The Long Way Around
by jensensduetpartner
Summary: An ongoing story of a slightly AU Supernatural world (Still following the main timeline with some events switched around and somewhat changed) with two OC's, Kacey and Emily. (Sam/Kacey, Dean/Emily, R&R)
1. Where It All Began

Alright guys, this is my first ever fan fic, so I'm slightly nervous about posing it, but here goes! It's slightly AU (still following parts of the spn timeline, but full of OC's and some changed scenarios.) Reviews and critiques are welcome :)

I don't own Supernatural or any of its characters :)

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"Angels? Seriously?" Ellen laughed, setting two beers down in front of Sam and Dean from behind the bar.

"I know how it sounds, but trust us." Dean said before taking a swig of his beer.

"Apparently they aren't to keen on the demons jump starting the apocalypse." Sam said.

"Jo's not gonna believe this. She's not supposed to get back from her hunt for a couple days so I've got two of my girls working on the case in town right now. Might wanna let them know." She said, leaning on the bar.

"What, are you hiring out hunters now?" Dean asked.

"No, just taking care of them. Give 'em cases every once and a while. They should be back soon" She said, glancing at her watch.

"Then how do you explain the sulfur all over the place?" A blonde girl said, walking in through the front door.

Dean and Sam turned and looked at the two girls walking into bar. They were both wearing pant suits with fed badges hanging from their necks.

"Speak of the Devils." Ellen said, reaching down and pulling two more beers from under the counter.

"Kacey. When have you ever seen a demon burn someone's eyes out of their head?" Said the brunette following in behind her.

Both girls sat down at the bar in front of Ellen and she set the two beers in front of them.

"Maybe they learned some new tricks." Kacey said, drinking her beer.

"No luck girls?" Ellen asked.

"I've never seen anything like this before Ellen." The brunette one said, grabbing some peanuts from the basket on the counter.

"Well I've got two boys that I think can help you out." Ellen said, gesturing to Sam and Dean. "Emily, Kacey, meet Sam and Dean Winchester."

"Ah, the famous Winchester boys. We've heard a lot about you." Kacey said, holding out a hand to Sam who was sitting next to her.

They shook hands, smiling at one another and holding each others gaze a tad bit too long. Emily rolled her eyes, and leaned in front of Kacey, holding her hand out to Dean.

"Nice to meet you." She said.

"You too." He said, shaking her hand and smiling at her.

The first things the boys noticed about them was how gorgeous they both were. Kacey was tall and lean, gray eyed, with long, slightly wavy dirty blonde hair, exactly Sam's type. Emily was slightly shorter, (about 5'6") with shoulder length curly brown hair and brown eyes.

"I've known this one since she was sixteen," Ellen said, nodding to Kacey. "Emily came in about three years ago. Boys, these girls are some of the best hunters I've met, and I don't just throw that around."

"Well we're gonna need them then. You guys are dealing with an angel." Sam said, looking at Kacey.

The girls both laughed, setting their beers on the bar.

"Yeah okay." Emily snickered.

"Let me guess, room full of people with their eyes burned out of their heads? All the windows and lights broken?" Dean said, looking at Emily.

The girls looked at each other.

"Angels." Kacey said, raising her eyebrows.

"They haven't been on earth in thousands of years, that's why you haven't heard of them." Sam replied.

"I guess Lilith brought them back then?" Kacey asked, looking at Sam.

"You two know about that?" Dean asked.

"Been looking for a way to ice her for a couple months now." Emily said, standing up from the bar stool. "I'm gonna go change."

"I'll come with. You guys hungry?" Kacey said, hopping up.

"Starved." Sam answered, turning to her.

"I'll get us some food." She said, walking over to the kitchen window. "Ash! Four burgers!" She yelled into the opening.

"You got it." They heard from inside the kitchen.

Kacey turned and winked at Sam before turning and following Emily up the stairs to the spare bedrooms above the bar. Sam turned around with a smug grin on his face.

"Dude. Really? It's been like two minutes." Dean said, turning to Sam.

"_You're_ gonna lecture me about this? Seriously? " Sam replied.

"Hey. Those two are like daughters to me. If you're gonna sleep with them I don't want to know about it." Ellen said, grabbing a few clean glasses from the counter and drying then with a towel.

"So what's their story?" Dean asked.

"Well." She sighed, setting the glass down. "It ain't a fun one. Jo and I picked Kacey up about ten years ago. She grew up hunting with her parents and they were killed by a nest of vamps when she was sixteen. We found her living on the streets and took her in." She smiled to herself. "She's a good kid. Tough as nails but has the biggest heart. Now Emily, she's a tough nut to crack. She came in here about three years ago in a real bad place. Her mom was a hunter and died when she was a kid, she had some horrible life with her dad after that, only Kacey knows what happened there and I don't pry. Anyway, she had been hunting with her twin brother Travis since she was eighteen and he died on a hunt. She came in here just a mess, had no family to speak of, completely on her own at twenty one. Kacey took her under her wing and they've been hunting together ever since, practically sisters. They pop in every once and a while for cases and I let em stay upstairs."

"And we are eternally grateful." Emily said, walking over with two plates of food, setting them down in front of the boys.

"Motel rooms and the floor of my mustang get old eventually." Kacey said, sitting down and putting a plate in front of her and Emily.

"So that's your mustang outside? What is it '63?" Dean asked, taking a bite out of his burger.

"'65, it was my parent's. Now it's Emily and I's baby." She smiled, nudging Emily with her elbow.

"Dean hates mustangs. I had one when I was at Stanford and he made me leave it there." Sam said.

"Poor taste Dean, poor taste." Kacey said.

They spent the next hour sitting around the bar and chatting. Dean and Sam telling the girls about his trip to hell, the seals, and why the Angels were back, Sam and Kacey flirting back and forth with eye rolls from Dean and Emily, the occasional sarcastic comment from Ellen. Towards the end of the night Emily glanced down at her watch.

"Coroner told us she would have the bodies ready for us to look at about now." Emily said, looking over at Dean. "You wanna come with?"

Dean stood up from his chair, fishing the keys from his pocket.

"Yeah. Sam you wanna call and get us a room at that motel we passed?"

"Don't be silly. I've got two spare bedrooms upstairs, one of them is still open. You guys are staying here." Ellen said.

"Thanks Ellen." Sam said, standing up. "We all gonna go?"

"Em, why don't you take Dean and go check it out. Sam and I can stay here and... Do research." Kacey said, giving Sam a look.

Sam got a sly smile on his face and looked down at his feet.

"Yeah you do that." Emily said dryly. "C'mon Dean."

Dean laughed and got up, following Emily out the door.

"You'll have to excuse my little brother, he doesn't get laid often." Dean said, stepping into the drivers seat of the impala.

"Yeah, well it doesn't really surprise me with her. Let's just hope they're done by the time we get back, otherwise I'm sleeping in Sam's bed tonight." She said dryly.

He laughed, pulling out of the parking lot.

"Or you'll just have to sleep in mine." He replied flirtatiously.

"Nice try buddy, I'm not quite as easy." She said, smiling at him.

"Damn." He said, turning and giving her a sly grin.

She turned toward the road, shaking her head.

"Take a right." She said, pointing ahead.

When they finally arrived at the coroners office about an hour later, Dean knew the case was finished.

"That's Angels alright. You said there was sulfur all over the scene?" He said, pulling the sheet back over the body.

"Yeah. Must of all been demons. They couldn't have just exercised them?" She said, taking her gloves off and throwing them in the trash.

"They don't really play that way."

They both walked out of the office, going back to the impala.

"These guys seem pretty powerful, why don't they just take out Lilith and leave?"

"She's just as powerful as they are. They can't find her now anyway. Right now they're just worried about breaking the seals. She's getting them done and she's getting them done fast." Dean said.

"And here we thought all those apocalypse preppers were bat shit crazy. We might wanna take notes" She muttered.

"Not if I can help it." Dean said, staring at the road.

"You guys plan on stopping her alone?" She asked incredulously.

"Or die trying." He replied.

"It's ballsy, I'll give you that." She said, playing with the zipper on her jacket. "But if you ever want help, we'll be happy to lend a hand. If you're family to Ellen, you're family to us."

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." He said, smiling.

They soon arrived back at Ellen's place, Dean grabbing his and Sam's bag from the trunk. They went in and climbed up the stairs to the bedrooms.

"You guys headed out tomorrow?" Emily asked when they made it to the top.

"Probably. We'll grab breakfast and head out. Unless you need us to stick around?" He said.

"What, you don't think we can handle it?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I don't know, it's pretty big kid stuff." He replied mockingly.

She scoffed and turned away from him, walking to her room.

"See you in the morning then." She said.

"Night." He laughed, turning to face his room.

As he opened the door he heard Emily let out a loud groan. He turned to her and she pulled a tie off of the doorknob, holding it up to him. He laughed, holding up his arms.

"My bed is looking like a better idea now right?" He teased, opening the door and gesturing her into the room.

She laughed, putting the tie back on the doorknob and walking over to him.

"Still a no." She said, walking through the door.

"Damnit!" He said.

She laughed again and he followed her in, shutting the door behind him.

"Uh." He said, digging around through Sam's bag. "Here." He pulled out a t shirt and a pair of sweat pants. "They'll be huge on you but I don't want you to have to go in the danger zone."

"Thanks." She said laughing.

She walked into the bathroom to change and wash her face. She couldn't sleep with him. I mean yes, he was unfairly gorgeous, but she had a code. Don't sleep with guys you will potentially see again down the road, I.e, no hunters. She limited her one night stands to people that had no idea what she did for a living, it was easier that way.

'You can't have them all.' Dean thought to himself as he changed into sweats and a t-shirt. She was hot. Hot, funny, liked classic rock, and was a hunter. He had never really thought about dating another hunter before, of all the people to date, a hunter was probably his smartest choice. They would at least understand all of the shit he goes through on a daily basis. Then again, he wasn't really the dating type.

She emerged from the bathroom with her hair up in a messy bun, her face makeup free, still just as hot.

"So." Dean said, sitting on the edge of his bed, facing her. "What's your weapon of choice?"

"Um. Don't really have one?" she said, walking over to the bed and sitting across from him.

"Okay, uh. Favorite monster to hunt." He said, resting his elbows on his knees.

"What is this, hunter twenty questions?" She asked, moving back onto the bed and leaning her back against her pillow.

"I'm just trying to make small talk while my brother and your best friend are hooking up in the next room." He said, following her suit and getting under the covers, laying on his side with his head propped up by his arm.

She laughed and lifted the blanket, putting her body underneath it.

"It doesn't make this situation any less awkward." She said, reaching over to the bedside table and turning the lamp off, leaving them in darkness.

A minute of silence lapsed before she spoke up, softly.

"My brother's spring field armory and… vampires." She spoke into the darkness.

"Interesting."

"What?" she asked, looking up at the ceiling.

"You can tell a lot about a girl by her answer to those two questions." He said.

"You say that like you have experience."

"Ya'know." He said matter of factly.

She laughed, rolling onto her side.

"Goodnight Dean."

"Night."

Emily woke up the next morning alone in Dean and Sam's room. She sleepily trudged out of the room and down the stairs, finding Kacey, Ellen, Jo, Ash and the boys downstairs, sitting around a table and eating pancakes.

"Hey Jo." Emily said, walking over to her. "Anything left of that vamp nest?"

"Course not." Jo replied, holding her hand up.

"Atta girl." Emily said, high fiving her as she walked past her.

She walked over to the table holding plates, pancakes and sausage. She made herself a plate and sat down in the open chair between Dean and Kacey. She turned, looking at Sam who was sitting next to Kacey.

"Thanks for the pajamas Sam." She said, pulling out her t-shirt.

He looked down at his plate, his face growing slightly red.

"No problem." He said.

"Are you aware that you snore?" Dean teased, pointing his fork at Emily.

"Kacey never fails to bring that to my attention." She replied.

"Constantly." Kacey replied, smiling at her.

"It's pretty quiet though, it's kinda cute. I can deal with it." Dean said, stuffing pancakes into his mouth.

"It's not gonna happen Dean." Emily said, taking a bite off her plate.

Dean shook his head and Kacey laughed.

"Have fun getting into this girls pants Dean. She's too much of a hard ass to have fun most of the time." Kacey said.

"She's right." Jo added.

"I am _not_ a hard ass." Emily said defensively.

"Aw, come on guys play nice... She's only a little bit of a hard ass." Ash said.

Emily shook her head, smiling as the group laughed. Ellen grabbed her plate and stood up from the table, walking over to Emily and hugging her from behind.

"Don't listen to them sweetie. We can be hard asses if we want." Ellen said, kissing her on the top of her head.

"I can deal with hard asses too." Dean shrugged.

Ellen walked behind Dean and slapped him on the back of the head, coaxing a laugh from the rest of the group.

"Leave her alone." She said.

Dean looked down at his watch, standing up from the table.

"Alright Sam, we better hit the road. Got a long drive head of us." Dean said.

The entire group stood up, saying goodbye to the boys. Jo and Ellen both hugged them.

"You boys stay safe. You can call me anytime." Ellen said, leading them out the front door.

Emily and Kacey followed the boys outside, Dean and Emily walking ahead of Sam and Kacey.

"I really enjoyed not sleeping with you." Dean teased, putting his bag in the trunk.

"I enjoyed it as well." She said, laughing and shaking her head. "Hey, if you do find Lillith, give us a call."

"Will do." He replied.

They both turned around, seeing Sam and Kacey kissing by the door.

"Expect Sam to be the first to call." He laughed.

"Yeah he'll probably want his pajamas back eventually." She said, looking down at her clothes.

Dean laughed and turned to get into the impala.

"See you around Emily."

"You too Dean." She said, walking away towards the bar.

Emily walked around Kacey and Sam, muttering under her breath.

"Thanks for the good time Sam." Kacey said.

"I'll see you around." Sam said, smiling down at her.

She reached up and kissed him again.

"See ya." She smiled.

Sam turned and walked down the steps, setting his bag in the trunk and shutting it. He turned and waved at Kacey before stepping into the car. Kacey stood in the doorway and watched as the boys drove off. Emily came from behind her and put her chin on her shoulder.

"Think they'll be back?" Emily asked.

"He better be back. That's the best sex I've had in years." Kacey said.

"Oh my god." Emily laughed.

"I'm just being honest. Hey! You should sleep with Dean and then we could all become a killing hunter team."

"You are absolutely ridiculous." Emily said, putting an arm around her shoulder and leading her back into the bar.

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thanks for reading guys! It means the world 3 make sure and check back, I'm adding new chapters all the time! Again, reviews are much appreciated, thanks for the love :)


	2. We're All Dark and Twisty Here

Second installment :) Dean, Sam, Kacey, and Emily are all hunting a djinn together. Things get a bit messy when Emily is taken by one, and the group has to set out to find her, revealing truths about her past along the way. Hope you guys enjoy, feedback is much appreciated!

Trigger Warning: This involves some not very fun parental abuse (physical and implied sexual)

I still don't own Supernatural or any of its characters

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"It doesn't make any sense though" Emily said over Dean's shoulder as he unlocked the motel room door. They walked in and set their stuff on their beds, two twins next to one another.

"This setting doesn't work for a djinn. I mean I wouldn't exactly use the word ruin to describe the most suburban town I have ever been to." She grumbled, sitting down at the desk and opening up her laptop.

"Okay, so he doesn't hang out here but he sure does hunt here. Four missing people and five murders in a week? Classic Djinn. I mean the whole jelly and blue hand print thing is new, but monsters change their m.o. It's happened before." He said, grabbing a beer from the fridge and standing behind her looking over her shoulder at the screen.

"Okay well even if djinns can look like normal humans now, they still need a place to bring the vics."

"Isn't there a big industrial park like 5 miles out?" He asked, bending down and reaching over her shoulder, setting his beer down on the table.

She felt her face getting hot at how close he was.

_Damnit, Emily, pull yourself together. You don't do relationships, remember? Hunters don't do relationships. Apparently unless you're Sam and Kacey._ She thought to herself.

"Hey-" she protested as he turned his computer toward him and pulled up Google maps "I was using that."

"And now I'm using it." He looked at her and smiled.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"See?" He said pointing at the satellite image on the screen. "It's an old factory, been shut down for 20 years."

"Perfect djinn territory." She said, pulling her computer back to her. He put his hand on the back of her chair and looked at the map. She zoomed into it, looking at the huge facility and groaning.

"That's gonna take forever to search. It's huge. We may want to start tonight." She said.

"I can go grab Sam and Kacey. See if there are any farms around, we're gonna need lambs blood." He leaned up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Her eyes lingered there.

_Fuck_. She thought. _I'm totally falling for a Winchester._

It's not like she was falling in love with him or anything, she wasn't stupid. He was just so damn hot, and he knew how to flirt too. She, on the other hand, had no idea what she was doing. Kacey was better with guys, always had been. Her and Sam hit it off right away, hooking up the first night they met and getting their own separate room after about two weeks of traveling together. It's been about three months since the girls began hunting with the Winchesters and Ellen was right, they made a fantastic team. Emily was reluctant about joining them at first, she and Kacey had been on their own for so long she wasn't exactly keen on the idea of teaming up with two random guys. But after she discovered that they knew Bobby, the man her mom had hunted with for a time and who she had known as a kid, she was open to the idea. The more time she spent with the brothers, the more she liked them. Sam was surprisingly sweet and wickedly smart, and Dean was, well, Dean. He was funny, loved all the same music she did (although he was way more obsessed with it than she was, she just liked to listen), intensely protective of the people he loves, and was easily the best hunter she had ever come across. He definitely wasn't bad on the eyes either, which made being around him that much harder. She was crazy attracted to him. As a rule of thumb, she didn't date. Sure she had a couple one night stands on the road, but she never got serious with anyone. Between her complicated past and her career as a hunter, she didn't want to bring anyone into her mess of a life. She really wasn't too great at commitment either, trust didn't come easy to her.

She was staring blankly at the computer screen when Dean came back through the door, grumbling and rubbing his eyes.

"So are they coming?" She asked.

"They're a little preoccupied." He said, walking over to the mini fridge and grabbing two beers.

"With what?" She asked annoyingly.

"With each other." He said, sitting down at the table with a look of disgust on his face.

"What?"

He gave her a look, cocking up one of his eyebrows.

"Oh. well then." She said, her cheeks turning slightly red. "I guess we will have to go tomorrow." She walked back to her seat and Dean set a beer in front of her.

"They're like a bunch of teenagers." He said.

"Kacey follows him around like a little puppy" she said through laughter. "He's good for her though, she's had a couple flings on the road but this is the happiest I've seen her in a while."

Turning her attention back to the screen, she pulled up a blueprint of the factory layout.

"Well they can be happy and put a tie on the door, I almost walked in before I heard them." He said, scooting his chair closer to hers to get a better look at the screen. "So what about you? Found any guys along the way?"

"Not really. I mean you get your one night stands every once in a while, but not many people are willing to travel around the country with me killing monsters."

He laughed at her.

"Touché. I'm guessing you've never dated another hunter?"

"Never really had the opportunity." She answered blandly, avoiding making eye contact with him.

"Yeah..." The awkward silence lapsed between them.

They weren't stupid, they both knew they had feelings for one another, but they were both hesitant about getting into relationships. They were afraid of both getting hurt and hurting one another. They both had their parents stories in the back of their minds. Emily's Dad had abandoned her mom when he found out she was pregnant, only to come back into her life after her moms death, drunk and abusive. Dean's mom died when he was only 4, leaving his dad in pieces. Emily stood up, heading over to the bed and pulling clothes out of her backpack.

"I think about it sometimes. If it could ever work. I don't really consider myself dating material though." She said.

Dean stood up and walked over to her.

"What?" He said as pulled one of those flirty smiles he was so good at. "Too dark and twisty?"

She smiled slightly.

"You truly don't know that half of it Dean." The smile quickly faded as she turned to face him. "Seriously."

"Hey look, we're all dark and twisty, it's practically in the job description."

They were standing uncomfortably close to one another, their gaze flicking back and forth from their eyes to their mouths.

"I get it." He said, moving even closer, looking down at her.

Her stomach was in knots as he gently put a hand on her face.

"Seriously." He said, a smile playing at his lips.

And suddenly, his lips were on hers. Not forcefully, but more like a question, simply waiting on her reply. Against all her better judgement, she slipped an arm around his waist and kissed him back. Her emotions took over and she put her other hand on his wrist while his opposite arm wrapped around her. They parted slightly, and stood there for a moment before her thoughts had time to catch up to her. She stepped back quickly, pushing him away gently.

"I'm sorry, I just. I can't. I want too, but I can't." She stammered, putting a hand on her forehead.

"I'm sorry, that was-" he cleared his throat "that was my bad, I'm sorry."

"No, it wasn't bad, it just- I just can't do-" she gestured to the two of them "this."

"Em-" he said stepping towards her.

"I need some air." She walked to the bed, grabbing a jacket.

"With a djinn on the loose? I don't think so, not by yourself."

"I can handle myself." She snapped. "Look, if I'm not back in 10 minutes, be worried. But I'll be fine."

"Emily c'mon!" He said as she went out the door. "Damnnit." He said under his breath.

He knew she had a nasty past. Kacey wouldn't give him details (it wasn't her story to tell, she had told him), all she said was that daddy issues didn't even begin to cover her situation. He knew her mother had died when she was a kid and that she had a twin brother that died, but that was the extent of his knowledge. And damn, did he fall for her. She was absolutely gorgeous for starters, curly brown hair that framed her face and made her practically gold eyes scream at him. She could hunt like no one's business, had a sharp sense of humor, and was incredibly smart. He was attracted to everything about her, but he could tell she had reservations about him, or rather, about dating him. He's been through enough shit that he knows how to recognize people that had gone through the similar shit. She hadn't been gone all of two minutes when he went after her, it was stupid for her to be out alone. He threw on his leather jacket, grabbed his gun and walked out the door.

"Emily!" He yelled into the darkness, walking on the sidewalk along the side of the building. He was scanning the road ahead when he saw something on the ground, Emily's jacket. On the road beside it was a pair of black tire marks.

"Shit." He said under his breath as he ran back to the motel.

He banged his fist on Sam and Kacey's door.

"Put some clothes on and open up! Emily's gone!"

"What?" He heard Kacey say from behind the door.

After a few seconds Sam opened the door in a pair of jeans, Kacey in one of Sam's sweatshirts.

"What do you mean gone?" Kacey asked.

"She went out for a walk and was gone for a while so I went to find her and I found her jacket on the sidewalk." He held it up to them, revealing a huge rip through it.

"You let her go out alone!?" Kacey yelled, stepping forward and taking the jacket.

"Well, she just kinda left, she didn't exactly want me with her."

"What are you talking about?" Sam said, letting Dean inside and closing the door.

"I, uh. We..." Dean was stammering, opening up Sam's laptop.

"You what?" Kacey spat, obviously angry.

"We kissed. She kinda freaked out and said she needed some air. I tried to tell her not to go but she was pretty set." He brought up the same map he and Emily were looking at.

Kacey walked up behind him and punched him hard on the shoulder before sitting down in the chair next to him.

"Hey!"

"Idiot." Kacey muttered.

"So where do we start?" Sam asked, grabbing his shirt and looking over Deans shoulder at the computer.

"Well we figured he's probably operating out of here," Dean pointed to the screen "old abandoned factory, 20 miles out."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Kacey asked.

"I tried. You guys sounded a bit preoccupied."

"I'm not apologizing for that." She spat back at him.

"I'm not asking you to!" Dean yelled, turning to her.

"Hey!" Sam said, putting his arm between them "Cool it! Let's just get in the car and go find her."

Kacey stood up, grabbing clothes from the floor and went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"I think we still have some lambs blood in the trunk."

"Good." Dean said, rubbing his temple.

"Hey," Sam said, Dean looked up at him. "We'll find her."

Kacey emerged from the bathroom, going out the door without a word, slamming the door again.

"Well, she knows how to slam a door." Dean muttered, grabbing his gun and following her out. The three of them piled into the car and sped off.

...

Emily woke up tied to a chair and struggled to open her eyes. Everything came to her in fragments as she tried to asses her situation. She was tied to a chair and could taste blood, probably from her nose. Just like her and Dean had thought, she was in that old factory building. There were two bodies on either side of her, most likely dead. She could hear muffled voices from behind her, one male and one female from what she could tell.

"You brought a hunter here? Are you insane?!"

"I didn't know she was a hunter."

"Careless. That's your problem, you're careless. Now we've got three more hunters on out trail, probably headed here!" Emily heard her sigh. "You need to leave, I've got experience with these bastards, you don't."

"I'm not going anywhere."

Emily wriggled her wrists silently, trying to slip out of the restraints, but they were tied pretty well. She heard footsteps behind her.

"Well," a woman came into Emily's view, rolling up her sleeve. "If we're gonna die tonight, we at least need a last supper" she smiled and her eyes glowed bright blue as she put a hand on Emily's forearm. She screamed at the burning sensation and everything went black again.

...

The group arrived at the factory, piling out of the impala and getting supplies from the trunk. Lambs blood, silver knife, and the antidote.

"Do we think it's only one?" Kacey asked as she dipped the knife in the blood, handing it to Sam.

"I don't know, be prepared for more than one." Dean said, dipping his own knife in the blood.

They entered the factory, going down a long dark hallway, knives at the ready. Rounding the corner, they came to a large open room. Emily was unconscious, tied to a chair in the center of the room. There were two bodies laying next to her, both long dead. Dean and Kacey ran up to her while Sam went over to check the bodies. Kacey squatted in front of her and shook her shoulders.

"Emily! Em, wake up. Give me the antidote!"

Dean handed it to her and she pushed the needle into Emily's arm.

"Both dead." Sam said, standing up and walking over to Kacey.

They stood back waiting for her to wake up, and nothing happened. It was Dean this time that knelt down, holding her face in his hands.

"She's burning up. Why isn't is working?!" He yelled, standing back up.

"I don't know!" Kacey yelled back at him.

"Wait, Djinn poison puts your brain in something like a feedback loop while your blood boils, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah?" Kacey and Dean answered in unison.

"If the antidote didn't break the loop, then maybe we can find a way to break it from the inside. I mean, if Djinn take you to your happy place, your happy place is like a dream —"

"African dream root!" Kacey said. "Do we still have some in the trunk?"

"We should." He turned to Dean "We'll be back."

They walked back out of the room. Dean turned back to Emily, kneeling in front of her and putting his hands on either side of her face.

"It's okay. I'm gonna get you out of this."

A few minutes later, Sam and Kacey came back in the room, Sam stirring up the liquid in a jar. Kacey walked over and plucked a hair from Emily's head, putting it in the cup. She took the cup from Sam and handed it to Dean.

"You do it. I've never used this stuff before." She said. She paused for a moment, looking over at Emily, and back at Dean. "Get her back."

"I will." He answered before chugging the liquid, groaning at the taste. "Alright, I'm gonna need to go sleep fast, so," he looked at Sam "punch me."

Sam looked at him blankly.

"I know you don't want to, okay—"

Sam cut him off with a upper cut. Dean stumbled back and Sam shook his hand in pain.

"Well, you're a little off your game there, cause I was-"

It was Kacey that cut him off this time with another punch, knocking him out cold.

"That felt good." She said with a smile on her face.

"That was hot." Sam replied, smiling back at her.

"Aw how sweet." Sam and Kacey whipped around at hearing the woman's voice. "You brought us another meal."

An older couple, man and a woman stood at the doorway. Their eyes were glowing blue, the tattoos on their arms matching. The man spoke up with a sadistic smirk on his face.

"Dare we make it four?"

...

Dean woke up inside of a bedroom. He was wearing the same clothes but had no weapons on him. He imagined this must be Emily's happy place, maybe with her mom and brother. He walked out of the room into a hallway and followed it to a living room. There was a man sitting on the couch with his back to Dean, watching some cop show on the television. He turned to look into the kitchen and saw Emily.

"Emily!" He said, walking into the kitchen. When she looked at him, her eyes were full of fear and she put a finger to her lips.

"What are you doing in my dream?" She whispered. "You aren't supposed to be here!"

"You're not in a dream. You got attacked by the djinn. We gave you the antidote but it didn't work so you have to snap out of it. Why are we whispering?" Dean suddenly heard a drunken yell come from the man on the couch.

"How long does it take to make a sandwich?"

Emily put the sandwich on the plate with shaking hands.

"It's right here dad." She answered.

"Your dream world is serving your drunk dad a sandwich?" Dean asked her.

"This isn't a dream." She said curtly as she walked over to the couch. "Here you go."

Dean heard a grunt as she set the plate down and walked back to the kitchen.

"You have to go. Now." She told him, taking him by the arm and attempting to lead him out the door. "He can't see you here."

"Emily what are you talking about, if you don't get out of this dream you're gonna die!"

Before Dean could finish his sentence he heard the sound of a plate being smashed on the ground.

"DAMNIT EMILY!" Her dad screamed.

"Shit." Emily muttered under her breath.

Her dad stood up from the couch and walked over to her, not even noticing Dean.

"Did I tell you to put mustard on this? Huh?" He was towering over her.

"No." She replied, shrinking under his figure.

"Hey man, step off." Dean said and tried to push him back, but his hands went straight through him as if he were a ghost. Emily turned and whispered to him.

"Not your nightmare."

"What did you just say, bitch?" Her dad said, grabbing her chin and yanking it to him, forcing her eye contact. He wrapped a hand around her neck, choking her.

"Nothing dad, I didn't say anything." She replied, struggling to breathe under his grip.

"Don't lie to me!"

He took a step back and slapped her across the face, knocking her on the ground. He bent over her a punched her in the face, leaving her nose dripping with blood. Dean attempted to pull him off of her to no avail.

"You ungrateful slut! I come home from a long day at work and you can't even make me the right god damn sandwich!" He said, accenting his last three words with a kick to her gut.

His second punch landed on her jaw, but he was so drunk he tripped over his own feet, falling to the ground next to her. She took advantage of it, getting up and running down the hall to the bedroom. Dean followed her and she slammed the door behind him. She stood with her back against the door, crying, blood gushing from her nose.

"Every time. In this nightmare it's always something. I forget the mustard, I burn the bread, I forget to get him a beer. Every fucking time!" She screamed through tears.

Dean now understood what Kacey meant by daddy issues. He wrapped her in a hug.

"Hey, it's okay. Just breathe, we have to figure out how to get you out of this. You're dying back in the real world." He was interrupted by banging on the door.

"Bitch, I'm not finished with you!"

Emily broke Dean's hug and pressed her back against the door. The fear in her eyes broke Dean's heart, all he wanted to do was rip the guys throat out. Another pound on the door opened it slightly pushing Emily forward. She let out a small yell and pushed back. Dean leaned his body into the door.

"Emily, look at me. Focus. How do you stop this." He said, trying to calm her down. She pointed to a gun on the dresser across the room.

"I kill him. I have to kill him but I can never do it." She started hyperventilating as the banging grew more intense. "I can't!"

"Em you have to."

"Don't make me punish you the hard way. My night is completely open darlin." Her dad said from behind the door, his words slurring together. Dean watched as the color completely drained from her face, her body trembling. "It's been a while anyway, I need to teach you some respect. That always works right?" Dean looked at her questioningly. She was staring at him like he wasn't there, her mind was somewhere else.

"Em, block him out, focus on me." He told her sternly.

"Your brothers not here to stop me anymore. My bed is getting a little cold." Her dads words ran together but Dean got the picture. He felt sick to his stomach.

"Son of a bitch." Dean muttered under his breath.

Never had he wanted to kill anyone more than in that moment. The banging on the door continued and Emily was frozen in place. Dean took her face in his hands.

"Hey, hey! Look at me, focus on me."

Her eyes locked with his. She was trembling and crying, the complete opposite of the tough girl he had gotten to know. It killed him seeing her so terrified.

"You have to kill him. You have to. Please. You need to end it."

"I can't." She whispered, bringing her hands to his wrists, "I can't do it."

"I know you can." He replied, letting go of her, grabbing the gun from the dresser and pressing it into her hand.

"You can do it, I'll be right here the whole time." He said gently.

"You're a worthless bitch just like your mother." Her dad said from behind the door.

Dean saw the look in Emily's eyes turn from fear to anger. She turned around and ripped open the door.

"Don't you dare say that about my mother." She spat at him before shooting him directly in the face, and everything went black.

...

Sam thrust the knife into the mans back, killing him instantly. Sam walked over to Kacey, looking at the gash on her cheek.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, out of breath.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm okay."

Suddenly, they heard Dean wake up. Stepping over the bodies of the djinn they walked up to him, Sam helping him stand up from his chair.

"What happened? Is she okay?" Kacey asked him frantically.

Dean looked over at Emily, who was beginning to stir. She sat up with a gasp and looked at Dean.

"Emily?" Dean said softly, getting on his knees in front of her.

She seemed to be frozen in her chair, looking down at her hands with tears in her eyes. Her breathing was still shallow and her body was trembling.

"Hey, look at me." He said softly, taking her face in his hands.

Her eyes flashed up to his.

"Em I'm so sorry."

She let out a sob and he wrapped his arms protectively around her and let her cry into his shoulder. He shushed her softly, petting her hair and kissing her temple.

"It's okay. It was just a nightmare. He's gone now."

Kacey took a sharp breath in. Sam looked at her for an answer and she just shook her head. She knew that dream all too well, Emily had told her about it before.

"Cmon hun," Kacey said, stepping forward and touching Emily's shoulder gently. "Lets get back."

They all left the building together, loading up the impala and setting out. Dean sat in the back with Emily curled up under his arm. It was a pretty silent car ride, Emily was still trembling. When they arrived at the motel, Kacey pulled her aside before they went into their rooms and pulled her into a hug.

"You okay?" Kacey asked.

"I will be. It's easier now that he knows. I don't feel like I'm hiding something from him." Emily responded.

"You think you'll be able to get some sleep? I know that dream usually keeps you up all night."

"I don't know. We'll see."

"Well you know you can come talk to me, right?"

"Of course" Emily smiled at her. "Now go on, you and Sam probably have some business to catch up on."

Kacey let out a small laugh.

"Yeah yeah." She pulled her in for another tight hug.

"I love you, you know that?"

"I love you too Kace. I'll see you in the morning."

Emily turned and walked back into her and Dean's room. Dean followed her in, shutting the door behind her. She sat on the edge of her bed, slipping her boots off.

"Well. Now you know what I mean by dark and twisty."

He sat down next to her, resting his elbows on his knees and looking at the floor.

"Yeah, no kidding."

"Well I might as well spare you the awkward questions and tell you everything."

"You don't have to do that." He said, sitting up and looking at her.

"No, I need to." With a sigh, she leaned back on the bed, her legs hanging off the end. Dean laughed and leaned back beside her.

"Okay. My parents were hunters together back in the day. They were good hunters too, crazy in love with one another. They were pretty well known in the hunter community, that's how they knew Bobby. They had been together for about 10 years when she got pregnant with Travis and I. According to my mom, my dad absolutely flipped out. Said he never signed up for this and just left."

"Nice." Dean scoffed.

"He wasn't exactly father of the year. Anyway, my mom raised us on her own. She actually found this guy that owned a huge real estate company who's parents were hunters. He would sell these big old expensive house and would pay her to get rid of ghosts and stuff."

"Are you serious? People do that?" Dean asked, turning his head to look at her.

"This guy did, paid her a decent amount. She hunted on her own too on the side and told us enough about it to keep us safe. We knew how to salt doors, use a knife. Only my brother knew how to shoot a gun though. I don't think she ever wanted us to become hunters, just be able to protect ourselves."

"She was never able to get out of the life?" He asked her.

"No." Her voice got quiet. "She died when I was eight. I don't know the details, I just know it was a demon."

Dean looked back at the ceiling.

"Yeah I know how that feels."

"We didn't have any other family to go to. Police tracked down my dad and we moved in with him."

"I take it he wasn't too happy about that?"

"Not exactly. He was miserable when he left my mom and blamed us for losing her. He was always drunk and angry. He could hardly hold down a job. I mean he started beating us the day we got there. The other stuff..." She paused, trying to find her words. Dean felt sick to his stomach again.

"Started when I was about ten. Continued till the day I left. He never did it to Trav, it's the only good thing he ever did."

Tears stung at her eyes. Dean reached over and grabbed her hand.

"Anyway. Travis left when we turned 16."

"He what?" Dean barked.

"It's not what you think. We had both been dying to get out but we knew if I ran away he would come after me. He didn't give two shits about Travis. So we made a plan. The night of our sixteenth birthday he would leave, spend the next two years making money and hunting, then on the night of our eighteenth birthday he would come and sneak me out. That's exactly what we did. Two years alone in that house was... hell. But the night we left is one of the best of my life. We just drove for hours, didn't even look at a map."

"Your dad never came looking for you?" Dean asked.

"Nope. Never heard another word. Last I heard he's still a miserable drunk."

"So four years? That's how long you and Travis hunted together?"

Emily had told Dean about her brother a while ago when they got drunk together at a bar after a hunt.

"Yeah." She smiled, quickly wiping at her eyes. "A good four years too." She paused a moment before sitting up "Well. That's my story."

"Can't believe I found one shittier than mine." Dean said sitting up. She laughed at him.

"Oh yea, I definitely win."

"Well, let's hope for his sake that we never meet. It wouldn't end up nice for him, I want to rip the guys throat out." He said.

"I did too, for a long time. But being angry got me no where."

Silence lapsed between them, no one wanting to address the elephant in the room.

"Em..." He looked down at his hands "look like I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I wasn't thinking and I-"

Emily cut him off, leaning over, putting a hand on his jaw and kissing him softly. They parted and his eyes were still closed.

"Okay then." He said, making her laugh slightly.

"Thank you." She said.

She stood up and walked over to her bag, pulling out a tshirt and a pair of shorts.

"So he didn't even do anything when Travis died?" Dean said, standing up and walking over to his bag.

"Nope. I called and left a message and didn't hear a word back."

"Dick..." Dean muttered under his breath.

"No kidding." She added, walking into the bathroom to change.

Dean slipped off his clothes, changing into sweats and a tshirt. This explained a lot about her. She was a tough hunter, reluctant to trust anyone, always protective of the people she loved. They had worked a case a couple weeks ago that involved a child abuse situation that she got really into, he had just assumed she felt bad for the kid, never thinking she was that kid at one point. That was probably why she got along so well with Bobby. He probably knew about her situation after her mom died, of all people he could relate. She came out of the bathroom, her face clean and her long curly hair pulled back into a messy bun. She crawled into bed, pulling the sheets up to her chin. Dean was sitting on the edge of his bed, facing her.

"I overheard what Kacey said about you sleeping tonight, I don't know if it will help, but my beds open."

Emily raised an eyebrow at him and smiled.

"Still trying to get into my pants? Seriously?" She teased.

"You know what I mean." Dean said, laying down on his side. She laughed at him.

"I know. Thanks, but I think I'll be alright." She said, reaching over and turning off the lamp.

They sat in silence for a minute before Dean spoke up.

"I made it to first base though, only a matter of time before I hit a homer." He said.

She laughed, rolling over onto her side. "Goodnight Dean."

He smiled in the dark.

"Night."

...

About two hours later, Emily jolted out of bed, covered in sweat. Looking at the clock, she had slept all of 30 minutes before being awoken by another nightmare. She laid back down and caught her breath, trying to clear her head of the images of her dad. She focused on the sound of Dean's breathing, it was oddly calming. She knew he was serious about his offer, but there was a lot she was unsure of. She knew she had trust issues, but could you blame her? Everyone important in her life was either an abusive drunk or dead. After Travis died, Kacey was the only family she had, and now it seemed like Sam and Dean were joining that picture. Her and Sam had oddly enough become really close, bonding over overprotective siblings and their "nerdiness" as Kacey called it. While her and Sam could spend hours at a library, Dean and Kacey had more fun at a gun range. He was like a brother to her. And Dean? He was the guy her brother always talked about her finding, she of course, never believed she could ever find one. Dean got a full taste of her past today and didn't even flinch. He understood her more than a lot of people ever could. And he's the first guy she's been able to fully trust in a long time.

"Screw it." She said under her breath, folding over her covers and stepping out of bed.

She walked around to the other side of Dean's bed, slowly climbed in and laid down, her back to his. Of course, Dean was a notoriously light sleeper.

"Everything okay?" He asked her in a groggy voice, rolling over to face her.

"Yeah." She replied "sorry I didn't mean to wake you up."

"No problem." He said moving closer to her, planting a kiss on her head and wrapping a protective arm around her waist. She sank into his warmth and closed her eyes. She could get used to this.


	3. The First Real Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! So we are jumping in the timeline a bit, and this is where the whole "slightly AU" comes into play. In my storyline, they get the bunker around season 7. I really wanted to do a Christmas edition of the fic sooo here it is! I hope you guys have a lovely holiday. Enjoy! (Again, feedback is appreciated!)

Nope, still don't own Supernatural or any of its characters.

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Dean walked into the kitchen of the bunker, setting down two arm fulls of groceries on the counter in the center of the room, Sam following close behind him. The room was large, a long counter in the middle with a pot rack above it and two trash cans on either end. The right wall held another long counter with a 6 burner stove top, a double oven on one end and a huge refrigerator at the other. Along the right wall was a long wooden counter with cupboards above and below it. The kitchen was obviously made to feed the entire bunker at full capacity.

"My god Dean, that's enough food to feed an army." He said, opening up the fridge and moving the food inside.

"Hey, when have we ever gotten to go grocery shopping for more than a couple nights?" Dean replied, putting food up in the cupboards.

Sam closed the fridge, balling up a couple plastic bags and throwing them in the trash can.

"Or had anything more than a mini fridge in some cheap motel to put them in?" Sam added.

"Exactly." Dean answered, tossing the last of the bags in the trash can and grabbing two beers from the fridge, handing one to Sam. "Emily said her and Kacey were planning on cooking tonight. Can you even _remember_ the last time we had a home cooked meal?"

"No I can't." Sam laughed.

Dean leaned against the counter and took a swig of his beer, smiling to himself.

"This is gonna be good for us Sammy." He said.

"Yeah... It is." Sam replied, smiling.

A moment of silence lapsed between them as they took in the place. For the first time in a long time, they had a home. A place they could come home to at the end of a long hunt, a place they could put their feet up and relax, more importantly, a place they felt safe. After a minute Dean piped up.

"The girls still cleaning?" he asked. He heard an answer from behind him.

"Emily is. I'm done for the night. I can only take so much dusting." Kacey said, walking in the doorway and over to Sam, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"We cooking?" Sam asked her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Well, Em is in total cleaning mode, so I would say yes." She said, pulling away from him and heading to the fridge. "First meal in the new house, better make it something good."

"So… Burgers?" Sam asked.

"You know it." Kacey replied, tossing a package of ground meat on the counter. Dean laughed and drank the last of his beer.

"Don't burn the place down." Dean said, walking out of the kitchen and down the hallway into the main library. As he walked down the long hallway, he heard classical music playing. The further he went, the louder it got and he quickly realized it was the nutcracker, maybe the sugar plum fairy? He only recognized it because his 6th grade teacher had them listen to it around Christmas time. He reached the bedroom and leaned against the door frame, smiling at scene in front of him. Emily was wiping down the top of the desktop on the right side of the room, her sleeves rolled up and her hair tied up in a sloppy bun. She was dancing on her toes, moving over to the bed and unpacking what few clothes they had from their bags. She twirled around and saw him, her cheeks turning bright red. He laughed and walked into the room.

"The nutcracker? Seriously?" He teased.

"Shut up! It's my tradition." She replied, throwing a wadded up paper towel at him before turning back to the clothes.

"Tradition?" He asked as he walked over to her. He picked up the clothes and started folding.

"Yeah." She said, smiling. "Every year at Christmas time my mom would put it on when we decorated the house. It was her favorite."

He turned to her, handing her a folded t shirt.

"Did you ever get to see it?" He asked

"No." she replied, taking the shirt from him and slipping it into the dresser beside the bed. "We could never afford to go."

There was a pause between them before she changed the subject.

"I think I'm supposed to be helping Kacey with dinner." She said.

"Sam's helping her, they can handle it." He said, handing her the last shirt.

She put it in the drawer and fell back onto the bed with a sigh.

"Cleaning is exhausting." She said with her eyes closed.

He laughed and laid down next to her, taking her hand in his.

"I'm just happy we actually have a room to call our own." He said.

"Very true. How many hunters get to have a permanent place?" She answered.

He rolled on his side and propped his head up with his hand.

"Or one as nice as this one?" He said before kissing her softly.

She smiled back at him, putting a hand on his cheek.

"I like it here. It's oddly cozy. And I think I could spend the rest of my life here and never read everything in that library." She laughed.

"Ah, yes. It's nerd central in there." He teased, kissing a little harder.

She laughed and pushed his shoulder, rolling him onto his back again. She turned and slipped under his arm, nuzzling his neck.

"You know what this means?" she asked, kissing his collar bone.

"Hmm?" he replied.

"We have a bed to break in." she said, pulling her head back and smiling at him.

He growled playfully and kissed her, she laughed at him under his lips. She rolled on top of him and he slid his hands under her shirt, pressing her to him.

"DEAN! EMILY! DINNER!" Kacey shouted from down the hall.

"Damnit." Dean muttered under his breath. Emily laughed and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Cmon" She said, rolling over and standing up. She reached her hand out to him. "We've got all night for that."

He took her hand and she pulled him up. He slipped an arm around her waist and kissed her forehead, leading her out of their bedroom and down the hall to their first dinner in their new home.

...

"I swear to god, he looks me dead in the eye and goes" Kacey puffed up her chest and added a horrible Scottish accent. "'You don't have the slightest idea how to kill me. You're just kids. I doubt you've ever seen anything like me before' and flashed his eyes"

They had finished dinner and were sitting at the desks in the library, empty plates in front of them. Dean and Emily sat on one side, Sam and Kacey on the other. Emily chimed in, laughing.

"So we just look at each other, and I go, 'damn. You know what, you're right. We have no idea, waaaay over our heads. May as well just kill us now.'" She said.

"So he walks forward with this smug ass grin on his face, right under the Devils trap." Kacey said.

Sam and Dean just shook their heads.

"Fucking idiots..." Dean muttered, taking a swig of his beer.

"You should have seen the look on his face when Kacey started spouting off the Latin." She said through laughter. "He had no idea."

"And do you remember what he said?" Kacey added, pointing at her.

"Don't send me back to Crowley! Please!" They said in unison, mocking his pleading voice. They were laughing so hard that tears started forming in their eyes, Dean and Sam laughing right along with them.

"Of course we had no idea who Crowley was at the time, but it was still funny as hell." Kacey added once she caught her breath.

Their laughing dissolved into silence soon after.

"Alright, I'm tired." Emily said, grabbing her and Dean's plates and standing up. "Sam you want to help me with dishes?"

"Sure." He replied, grabbing the plates and standing up, planting a kiss on the top of Kacey's head before following Emily to the kitchen. Dean turned around, checking to make sure they were out of the room.

"Hey," he said in a low voice, turning to Kacey. "I need your help with Emily's Christmas present."

"Okay?" She said, looking at him questioningly.

"I assume you know her nutcracker thing?" He asked.

"Of course I know her nutcracker thing." She paused a moment before gasping. "Are you gonna take her to see it? That's adorable!" She added loudly.

"Shutup!" He said, whipping his head around to look behind him.

"Sorry!" She said, putting a hand over her mouth. "You taking her to the Kansas City ballet?" She added in a lower voice.

"That's what I was thinking." He said smiling. "It's about 4 hours away but I don't think she'll mind the drive."

"So what do you need from me?" She asked.

"Well I wanted to get her a dress but I figure it wouldn't end well if I picked it out." He said.

"Done. When are you taking her?"

"Christmas eve." He said.

Kacey squealed softly, putting her hands over her mouth.

"She's gonna love it. Any specifics on the dress?"

He looked down at the table, fiddling with a bottle cap and smiled.

"I like her in red." He said.

"Of course you do." She scoffed and rolled her eyes. She paused a moment and smiled at him. "Really though, it's perfect."

"What's perfect?" Emily asked, walking down the hall with Sam following behind her.

"Houses of the holy." Kacey said without missing a beat, standing up next to Sam. "It is literal perfection."

Emily leaned down, wrapping her arms around Dean's neck and he put his hands on her arms.

"That's Guns N' Roses right?" Emily asked.

"Oh my god!" Kacey groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Are you _serious_?" Dean said at the same time, pushing her arms off of him and turning around to face her.

"It's Zepplin, Emily, cmon even _I_ know that." Sam said, laughing and wrapping an arm around Kacey's shoulders.

"My bad!" Emily said, throwing her hands up in defense.

Dean stood up from his chair and put an arm around her waist.

"You're lucky you're hot." He teased, kissing her temple.

"Sorry I'm not freakishly obsessed with classic rock like you two." She said.

"Hey. There is nothing wrong with having good taste in music." Dean replied, taking his arm off of her and putting a finger in her face before she knocked it away.

"Alright you two, go to bed." Kacey said as she walked away with Sam.

"Goodnight guys." Sam added.

Dean and Emily followed them hand in hand, walking down the hallway to their bedroom.

"Seriously though, obsessed is a good word." She said, walking slightly ahead of him, still holding his hand and pulling the door open.

Dean followed her into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. As she was walking toward the bed, he pulled her playfully towards him and wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tightly.

"Shutup." He said smugly before kissing her deeply.

...

"I still don't get why I'm here." Sam said as he walked through racks of colorful dresses.

"I need a man's opinion." Kacey said, stopping at one of the racks and going through the selections.

"Yea, right. Cuz you really need _my _opinion on a dress." He said, absent mindedly playing with the fabric on one of them.

"Okay _no_, but you can serve as Dean's opinion." She said, holding a red tulle dress up in front of him, "This one?"

"Too fluffy." He said, wrinkling up his nose.

"I agree." She said, pausing before grabbing a form fitting one off the rack. "Ooo this one! She would look hot in this. Don't you think so?" She asked, holding it up to him.

"Um, I don't think I should answer that question." He said, pulling a tight, black satin dress from the rack. "But I know who would look good in _this_." He added, smiling at her.

"Shut up." She laughed, putting his choice back on the rack. "We aren't here for me."

"Okay." He said, moving to stand next to her. "what am I supposed to be looking for?"

"His only preference is red. It's black tie so it has to be nice, preferably floor length…" She said, scanning the racks again.

"What about that one?" Sam asked, pointing to one hanging on a rack by itself towards the corner of the room.

Kacey and Sam walked over to it and Kacey held out the skirt. It was simple, a dark blood red color with a deep v neck line. It had two shoulder straps that split into two thin ribbons at her shoulders, the two closest to her neck making a v shape on her back while the outside two went straight down. It was tied at the waist with a red satin ribbon and the skirt fell straight down in a light chiffon material.

"And you said I didn't need you." She said, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek. "It's perfect, and in her size!"

"Does that mean we can go?" He asked.

"Oh calm down, we haven't even been here an hour. Besides, she still needs a bag, shoes, and a coat." She said, smiling as she handed him the dress and took his free hand, pulling him away. "Who knows, maybe if you're good you'll get a reward later on tonight." She added playfully.

He let go off her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"I can get used to shopping." He said slyly, smiling down at her.

She laughed and kissed him as they walked into a new store.

...

Emily hopped down the stairs into the bunker, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. Kacey was sitting at the desks in the library, watching a movie on her computer.

"Good run?" She asked without taking her eyes of the screen.

"Yeah." Emily responded, out of breath.

She grabbed Kacey's water bottle from the desk, walking away towards her bedroom.

"Um, you're welcome?" Kacey said.

"Thanks!" She yelled back.

Walking down the hallway, she peeled her sweatshirt off, leaving her in a sweaty tank top. Opening the door to her bedroom, she tossed it in the left corner in the general direction of the laundry hamper. She turned towards the bathroom on the right side of the room, taking a sip from her water bottle, when the dress lying out on the bed caught her eye. She walked over to it, lightly touching the red fabric. A black pea coat was next to it along with a pair of strappy black heels and small black clutch laid on top of the skirt. She smiled as she grabbed the hand written note sticking out of the bag.

_Merry Christmas love, put this stuff on, be ready at 2:00._

_- Dean_

She glanced at the clock on the dresser, she had about two and a half hours to get ready. She heard a noise over her shoulder and turned to see Kacey standing in the doorway.

"Did you know about this?" Emily asked, pointing to bed.

"You really think Dean picked that dress out by himself?" She said, smiling.

"Where's he taking me?" Emily asked, lifting one leg slightly and taking her shoes off.

"Like I'm gonna tell you? It's a surprise." Kacey replied.

"Should I be worried?" She asked, pulling her hair out of her ponytail.

"So little faith! I would've stopped it if it sucked." Kacey said before she turned and walked out of the room. "I'll do your hair when you get out of the shower!"

Emily smiled and shook her head. Dean was such a romantic and didn't even realize it. She walked into the bathroom and took a quick shower, too excited to relax and take a longer one. She dried off and slipped on her underwear, grabbed Dean's robe from a hook on the wall, and wrapped herself in it. She brushed her teeth and combed out her hair, trying to think of where Dean could be taking her.

Much to his dismay, she absolutely loved Christmas time. Her mom loved the holiday season and she and her brother grew up loving it with her. They had a Christmas tree up in their apartment by November 1st every year and no matter how much money they had, her mom always had at least one present for them under the tree on Christmas morning. Even when she and Travis had barely two cents to their name, they would scrape up enough to buy some eggnog and cookies, falling asleep to the nutcracker playing over the stereo in their car. Kacey was nice enough to let her continue her little traditions when they started hunting together, even making a few of their own over the years.

She walked out of the bathroom to find her blow dryer and found Kacey sitting on her bed, holding up a bag of white chocolate covered peppermint pretzels.

"Can't forget these." Kacey said, pulling the bag open and offering her one.

"Of course!" She said, taking one from the bag and popping it in her mouth.

These were something Kacey had as a kid and every year without fail, they ate them on Christmas Eve.

"Have you seen my blow dryer?" Emily asked her, opening up the drawers in her dresser and digging through them.

"Oh yeah," Kacey answered, pulling it from behind her. "I borrowed it a couple days ago. C'mon, let's make you look hot." She said, hopping up from the bed and pushing her into the bathroom.

Kacey pulled out a little stool and Emily sat on it. She brushed and blow dried her hair straight, setting the blow dryer on the counter when she was finished.

"Can't you just tell me where he's taking me? You know I hate surprises." Emily told her as Kacey dug around under the sink for a curling iron.

"Cmon Em, have a little fun! Besides, he'd kill me if I told you." She answered, plugging the curling iron into the wall. "I know you'll love it. He put a lot of work into it, it's kinda adorable."

"Really?" She asked, pulling out the red nail polish she had found inside the clutch and holding it up. "Thanks for this by the way."

"You're welcome, and yeah, he may be more excited about it then you will be actually." She said, laughing and wrapping Emily's hair around the curler. "He's pretty proud of himself."

Emily laughed and opened the nail polish, putting a coat on each nail.

"Do you remember our first Christmas hunting together?" Emily said.

"Like it was yesterday." Kacey smiled, letting a curl fall to Emily's shoulder. "We were hunting a rougarou right?"

"Yes! Killed it on Christmas Eve." Emily said.

"Uh huh. That's when I found out about the nutcracker. Remember? It came on the radio." She said

"Yeah, and I started crying like an idiot." Emily said, pulling her make up out of the drawer in front of her.

"Hey," she said, putting a hand on Emily's shoulder. "It was your first Christmas without your brother, crying is allowed."

"And then you felt sorry for me and we went out and bought so much crap." She responded, laughing.

"Hey, I didn't feel sorry for you, I felt bad for totally ignoring the holiday without even asking you about it. And oh my god, we had so much food! Candy canes, eggnog, cookies." Kacey said.

"You insisted we buy a gingerbread house kit too." She laughed.

"I'm pretty sure that was the ugliest thing I have ever made." Kacey said, laughing harder.

"We were drunk off our asses, what did you expect?" Emily said, trying to put on mascara while shaking with laughter.

"We couldn't even get it to stand up!" Kacey laughed, setting the curling iron down on the counter.

They laughed together, sighing.

"Those were the days." Kacey said.

They sat in silence for a minute as Kacey put Emily's hair in a low, loose bun.

"Did you ever think you would get this?" Emily asked, putting blush on her cheeks.

"Get what?" Kacey answered, carefully pinning her curls in place.

"This." She said gesturing to the room. "A permanent house, a relationship that lasted longer than one night."

"I didn't think is was possible for me." She replied, smiling. "But I've never been more happy to be wrong."

"Sometimes I feel like it's all too good to be true. Like one day I'm gonna turn around and it's gonna be gone." Emily said, putting the brush down and looking at her face in the mirror.

"What do you mean?" Kacey asked.

"I mean, its not normal for us to be this happy, to feel this normal. That's the first thing I learned in this life. Nothing happy ever works out."

"Where is this coming from?" Kacey asked, pinning the last of her hair up and putting her hands on Emily's shoulders, looking at her in the mirror.

"I don't know." Emily responded, looking down at her hands.

"Hey," Kacey said, kneeling beside her, taking Emily's hands in hers. "Yes, we're lucky to have this and no, it's not normal for this life. But who says it can't be? We've always believed everyone that told us we just have to live with being miserable when we do what we do without question."

"Maybe they say that cause they're right Kace." She replied in a low voice.

"No, I know they're wrong." She said, putting a finger under Emily's chin and forcing her to look at her. "We're proving them wrong. And if they turn out to be right," she added, standing up and pulling Emily with her. "I would rather die with those two idiots out there than alone."

Emily laughed at her and Kacey pulled her in for a hug.

"This is good for us, I know it is. We're gonna be okay Em." Kacey said.

"Thelma and Louise it to the end, right?" Emily asked.

"Hell yeah!" Kacey laughed, pulling back to look at her. "Geez, Dean won't be able to keep his pants on when he sees you."

"Shutup." Emily laughed, blushing a bit and turning to leave the bathroom.

She walked over the bed, slipped off her robe and had Kacey help her into the dress. Grabbing her shoulders, Kacey turned her around to face the mirror on top of the dresser.

"Beautiful." Kacey said, smiling, fixing a piece of hair that had fallen loose from the pins.

"Thank you. So what's Sam getting you for Christmas?" Emily asked, grabbing the clutch off the bed and putting her phone in it.

"You know how I told him like a year ago about my obsession with the twenties?" She asked.

"Yeah?" Emily replied.

"Well, he found this adorable little place a couple hours away. It's a bar but it's run like a speakeasy. Everyone dresses up and they play jazz music. It's so perfect!"

"Sounds like your heaven." Emily said, laughing.

"Basically." Kacey replied, smiling.

Emily sat on the bed and put the heels on, checking the clock.

"Okay, it's 1:50. Where am I supposed to go?"

"Well, get your coat for starters, its supposed to snow tonight." Kacey said, grabbing the coat from the bed and handing it to her. "Dean's either gonna be out in the library or waiting by the car."

They both left the bedroom, walking down the long hallway. Sam was waiting at the end of the hallway, smiling when he saw the two of them.

"I've got fantastic taste." He joked, wrapping Emily in a hug. "You look great."

"He did see the dress first, I'll give him that. But I perfected it." She said, wrapping an arm around Sam's waist.

"He's in there." Sam added, nodding towards the library.

Emily walked ahead with Sam and Kacey following close behind her. She turned the corner and saw Dean standing with his back to her, turning when he heard her heels on the tile. He was in a black suit and tie, it must have been a new one, she didn't recognize it as one of his fed suits. A huge smile spread across his face as she walked towards him. She looked absolutely stunning. Her hair was pulled back in a low loose bun with a couple of curls left hanging in front to frame her face. Her makeup was subtle, just enough to enhance her features. All he could think was that he had never seen a more beautiful girl in his life.

"You clean up nice." She said, walking up to him. When she reached him he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You are so beautiful." He said before kissing her lightly. He let go of her, taking one of her hands in his. "You ready to go?"

She smiled at him, bouncing slightly on her toes.

"Yes!" She squealed.

Dean laughed and grabbed the coat from her, holding it open for her to slip into.

"Have fun you two." Sam said from behind them.

"You guys too," Emily replied, turning around. "don't get too drunk. I will not have anyone hung over on Christmas morning."

Dean slipped an arm around her waist and led her up the stairs.

"See you guys tonight." He said, shutting the door.

"So where are we going?" Emily asked, looking up at him as they walked to the impala.

"You'll see." He smiled at her before kissing her.

They walked up to the car and he opened the door for her. She looked at him surprisingly before climbing in.

"Well you're just pulling out all the stops tonight." She teased, pulling her skirt into the car.

"What can I say, I guess I'm in the Christmas spirit." He smiled before closing the door.

She noticed three small packages sitting on the dash, one wrapped in red, one in green, and one in gold, all topped with silver bows. Dean opened the door and sat down.

"Are those for me?" She asked, reaching for them. Dean grabbed her wrist.

"Nuh uh. Not yet, I'll tell you when you can open them." He said.

He let go of her wrist and reached into the back seat, pulling out a bouquet of pale pink peony roses and handing them to her.

"You remembered?" She asked, smelling the flowers.

"Of course I did! What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't remember my girlfriend's favorite flower?" He said, turning the key in the ignition.

"You asked Kacey didn't you?" She said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"You couldn't have picked an easy kind? One that I would actually remember the name of?" He said.

She laughed at him, leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"It's the thought that counts." She said.

"Well." He said, shifting into drive. "Your present awaits."

Dean turned on the radio and drove down the road.

"Now Christmas music in baby? I never thought I'd see the day." She teased.

"Yeah, well don't get used to it." He said, taking her hand in his.

"So how long of a drive is it?" She said, rubbing her thumb over his hand.

"About 4 hours."

"Ooo that means it's something important. Is it a show or something?" She asked.

"I'm not telling you anything! It's called a surprise for a reason." He laughed.

"I don't like not knowing things." She said, a playful pout spreading across her face.

"I know." He said slyly, smiling at her.

...

"But yea, he looked all over for this place, pretty sure he was on the computer for like 4 hours straight. They make it hard to find so it doesn't get too popular. They're going early because they have a shop there to buy costumes." Dean said, facing the road.

"That's so sweet! She's gonna love it." Emily replied.

"Yeah, the boy did good." He said, smiling to himself.

He reached over and grabbed the red box off of the dashboard.

"All right." He handed the box to her. "First clue."

"Clue? Ah I see how this is gonna work. I get a clue every hour?" She responded, removing the wrapping paper.

"Yup." He said, smiling to himself.

She unwrapped and opened the box, revealing a little ornament. It was a small reed flute with a red bow on one end.

"A flute? Uh, a musical?" She asked, turning the tiny flute over in her hand.

"I'm not telling you anything." He replied, a smug grin spread across his face.

She stuck her tongue out at him and leaned back in her seat.

...

She was staring at the phone in her hand. She jumped suddenly, a huge smile spreading across her face as she grabbed Dean's shoulder.

"Okay! Time for clue number two!" She said, grabbing the gold box off of the dash.

"You're such a dork." He laughed.

She hit his arm, un wrapping the little box. She dumped the contents out into her hand, a small package with a purple gummy candy covered in sugar inside of it.

"Uh. We're going to a candy store? To get... Gumdrops?" She asked, looking at him questioningly.

He laughed to himself. He was afraid the sugar plum would give it away, but just like Kacey had assured him, she didn't even recognize it.

"I kinda hate you for this you know." She said, holding the flute in on hand and the sugar plum in the other, examining them.

"Then you're really gonna hate me now, you don't get the last present until we get there." He replied.

"What!?" She exclaimed, turning to him.

"My gift, my rules." He said, smiling slyly at her.

"You're enjoying this way too much." She said, putting the items back in their respective boxes.

...

"Wait, why are we pulling over?" Emily said.

"Because." Dean said, pulling a bandanna out from his jacket pocket and handing it to her. "I don't want anything to ruin the surprise."

"Seriously?" She asked.

"Trust me." He answered, leaning over and tying it gently over her eyes. "I'm trusting you not to peek."

"Okay, I won't. I promise." She said, laughing. He pecked her on the lips before sitting back in his seat.

"Alright." He said.

She could hear the smile in his voice as he pulled back onto the road. They drove for about twenty more minutes before she heard him put the car in park.

"Okay hold on a sec." He said and she heard him get out of the car.

He opened the door and took her hands, helping her out. She heard the door shut and he removed the bandanna from her eyes. She looked around and let her eyes adjust a bit before speaking.

"Um. It's a parking garage." She said.

"Yes I know." He said, laughing at her and handing her the last green box.

She set her clutch on baby's hood and unwrapped the box. When she dumped it in her hand, a tiny little red and blue nutcracker fell out of the box. Dean watched her expression as she put the pieces together in her head. Waltz of the flowers, dance of the reed flutes, dance of the sugar plum fairy. She gasped, looking up at him.

"You didn't." She said.

"I did." He said, smiling and rocking back on his heels with his hands in his pockets.

"No." She said, her arms falling to her sides.

He laughed and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Yes."

"Oh my GOD!" She screamed, throwing his arms around his neck and wrapping him in a tight hug.

"I know. I did good right?" He replied, pulling back and smiling at her.

She kissed him deeply and pulled back, putting a hand on his cheek.

"I love you." She said, a huge grin on her face. He kissed her again.

"Merry Christmas babe. Wanna go inside?"

"Yes yes yes!" She said, jumping up and down.

He laughed as she grabbed her clutch off of the car and put the nutcracker inside of it. He held his hand out and she took it, walking towards the building entrance.

"So we've got an hour till showtime, I have dinner reservations at the restaurant inside." Dean said.

"Sounds perfect." She said, squeezing his hand gently.

...

"Ready?" Kacey asked from behind the changing room door.

"Yeah." Sam yelled.

He had already changed into his outfit. An old school black suit, complete with suspenders and a fedora. She walked out of the dressing room and struck a pose, leaning against the door frame. She had on a black flapper dress, complete with fringe and long strings of fake pearls. She had pinned her blonde hair up into a fake bob with a black sequined headband across her forehead. She had on fishnet stockings and old school heels.

"Screw the speakeasy" he said, walking up to her and wrapping his arms around her. "We should just go back home and have Christmas in bed."

"Shutup." She replied, rolling her eyes at him, "we can do that later."

She grabbed him by the suspenders and kissed his cheek, then pulled him out the door.

"Now come on babe, I didn't get all dolled up for nothing." She said in a mocking 1920s accent.

"All right little dame," he said, copying her tone. "Let's go."

She laughed and took his hand and the two headed to the bar in the next room. The room was on the smaller side, a bar on one side with tables on the other. There was a stage at the end of the room with band singing classic jazz music. The room smelled of booze and was filled with smoke from fake cigars.

"I'm gonna grab a table." Sam said, letting go of her hand.

Kacey walked up to the bar, glancing at the menu and grabbing the attention of one of the bar tenders.

"Well hey there little lady, what can I get for Ya?" He asked.

"Two southsides please."

"Good choice." He said, smiling at her and grabbing two glasses. "Now, you're way to pretty of a bird to be here alone on Christmas Eve right?"

"Of course, my bimbos right over there." She said, pointing to Sam.

"Nice catch." He said, handing the drinks to her. "You have a merry Christmas now."

"Thank you sir." She said, smiling before walking over to their table.

"What is this?" Sam asked, pulling the drink to his mouth.

"Gin. I think." She answered, holding her drink up. "Here's to us."

"To us." He said, clinking her glass and taking a drink.

"Not bad." She added before setting her glass on the table.

Sam stood up and held a hand out to her.

"Care to dance?" He said.

"With you? Any day." She smiled, taking his hand.

They walked over to the floor in front of the stage and blended into the other couples. He rested his hand on the small of her back, holding her close to him. She laughed as the swayed with the other couples.

"Best Christmas ever." She said, leaning up and kissing him.

"Seriously? You don't prefer last year when I didn't have a soul?"

"Ha ha." She said, leaning her head against his chest as the band moved into a slower song, have yourself a merry little Christmas. He leaned his head down, kissing the top of her head.

"I'd rather not think about last year. Ever again." She said.

"Hey." He said, pulling their intertwined hands to her chin, pushing it up to look him in the eyes. "I'm okay now."

She smiled up at him.

"I know." She replied.

He kissed her again and they swayed to the music, taking in the rare moment of pure bliss.

...

Dean opened the curtain and led Emily to their seats.

"Box seats. We have box seats. This is absolutely ridiculous." Emily said, smiling as she sat down. She leaned over and kissed Dean on the cheek. "You're amazing."

"I know." He said, smiling and kissing her quickly.

She rolled her eyes as the lights dimmed. She sat at the edge of her chair and grabbed Dean's hand. He laughed silently at her, squeezing her hand and focusing his eyes on the stage. Throughout most of the show he barely watched the dancers, focusing on her most of the time. The way her face lit up with every step, the way she would look over at him every once and a while with the biggest smile on her face. Last year was hard on all of them and he was grateful they could all have a day to forget about all the crap going on and just have fun with one another. Before they knew it, they were giving the company a standing ovation as the curtains closed and the lights came up. She turned to him, wrapping her arms around his middle.

"So?" He asked her, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

She put a hand on his jaw, rubbing her thumb slightly over his cheek bone. She looked him in the eye for a moment before kissing him deeply.

"It was perfect." She said.

"I'm glad." He said, letting her go and grabbing her coat off of the back of her chair. He held it up and she slipped into it. She took his hand and they left the box, walking down the stairs, through the lobby, and out into the parking garage. They walked arm in arm to the impala, climbing in and starting the drive back home.

"So does this Christmas make up our first two?" He asked her, pulling out onto the highway.

"What, you mean a Christmas where Sam isn't in the cage, actually has a soul, and Kacey is with us and none of us are in immediate life threatening danger? I would say yes." She replied.

He laughed before taking her hand.

"Well, we can count this as our first real Christmas." He said.

"Hell, it only took two and a half years." She laughed, grabbing the flowers from the dash and smelling them.

"Why do you like it so much anyway? We're like the only hunters I know that actually celebrate it."

"I don't know." She replied, absentmindedly playing with the petals. "Probably because my mom made it a big event for us growing up. I'm guessing your dad wasn't the Christmas type?"

"Not exactly." He laughed. "But Sam and I had some fun ones by ourselves. Mostly involving presents you could buy at a gas station but they were still nice. I'm gonna assume your dad didn't do much Christmas stuff either."

"You would be correct." She said, before smiling to herself. "But the first Christmas I had without my dad was... Amazing. I mean I wasn't expecting anything, Travis hadn't said anything about it. But he got me out of the motel room for a couple hours, had me go do research at the library in town, and he went all out. Got a little tree, put up lights and tinsel, stockings, the whole bit." Her eyes got a little teary as she spoke and she wiped them quickly before continuing. "Every year we did the same thing. Kacey and I just kind of decided to continue that. It's just a way to kind of forget about hunting for a night and just be... normal... For lack of a better word."

"Nah normal's a good word." He replied.

She scooted over in the seat and leaned into him, intertwining his fingers in hers.

"Thank you." She said, leaning up and kissing his jaw. "For everything."

"You don't have to thank me for anything."

"Yes I do." She said, resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes.

He woke her up when they arrived back at the bunker.

"We're back. And hey, I got you a white Christmas too." He said, kissing her hair and pushing her up slightly.

She grabbed her bag and her flowers before stepping out of the car. She stuck her tongue out, letting the snow fall onto it. Dean laughed at her and took him into his arms, dipping her and kissing her deeply. She laughed as he leaned her back up and took her hand and they walked into the bunker. They could hear Sam and Kacey laughing from the den when they walked in. They set their stuff down on the library tables and walked towards the voices. Sam was sitting on the couch facing them with Kacey curled up under his arm. They looked up when they saw the two.

"Hey guys!" Sam said

"How was the show?" Kacey asked.

"Amazing." Emily said.

"Oh yeah," Kacey added. "You'll never guess who stopped by."

Just as she was finishing her sentence, Cas emerged from the hallway where Dean and Emily came in.

"Hello Dean, Emily." He said, sitting on the couch in front of Sam and Kacey.

"Our own personal Christmas angel" Emily said, laughing and turning to leave the room "Hold on, I'm gonna get out of this dress."

"Yeah, I can only wear a suit for so long." Dean added, going to walk out of the room with her.

"Emily, wait. Cas brought a guest." Kacey said, sitting up.

Emily turned around to see a black head of hair pop up from behind the couch Cas had just sat on.

"Surpriiiise!" Amy said, hopping up and jumping towards Emily.

"Oh my god!" Emily said as they wrapped each other in a tight hug. "What are you doing here? And why are you with our Angel?"

Amy pulled back, brushing her short hair behind her ears.

"I've been helping him fight leviathan for like two months now and he never bothered to mention you all to me." She said, shooting Cas a glance.

"I didn't know you knew them." Cas said, standing up and walking to her, slipping an arm around her waist.

Emily looked at Dean, raising her eyebrows. He simply shrugged in response.

"It wouldn't have hurt you to mention them." She said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I was complaining that we didn't have a place to be for Christmas and next thing I know this doofus zapped us here."

"Yeah, nearly gave Kace and I a heart attack." Sam said, sitting up and grabbing his beer from the coffee table in front of him.

"Anyone want to fill me in here?" Dean asked, walking back to Emily.

"Oh, sorry. Dean, this is Amy. Amy, Dean." Emily said.

"Nice to finally meet the famous Winchesters" Amy said, shaking Dean's hand.

"Kacey and I met her at Ellen's bar, what, five years ago?" She said, looking at Kacey.

"About yeah. We meet up every once and a while over the years, kick butt, take names, the usual." Kacey added, smiling.

"I'm very surprised at the lack of spirit this year ladies. The three Christmas's I spent with you two we hit up the dollar store for cheap Christmas decorations." Amy said.

"Give us a break, we just moved in like a week ago." Kacey replied.

"Why are you guys even still up, its 3 am?" Dean said, looking at his watch.

"Cuz I had to see Emily's face when she saw Amy again." Kacey said, standing up from the couch. "But I am falling asleep, you ready for bed babe?"

Sam shot Dean a quick look, standing up.

"Well Dean and I have to do our... Christmas... thing." Sam stammered, looking to Dean for help.

"Yeah! You know. Brother bonding... And stuff." Dean said.

"I don't even want to know." Kacey said, looking at Emily. She turned to Sam. "Goodnight. Don't be stupid, doing... whatever you're doing." She added, kissing him before waking out of the room.

"Let me change then we can go." He said to Sam before turning to Cas. "You're coming too."

"I'm here all of four hours and they're already taking him away." Amy said, turning to Cas and kissing him. "Don't let those two do anything stupid."

"Cmon Am's, I'll set you up a room." Kacey said, leading Amy out of the room and down the hall.

Dean tossed Sam the keys to the impala.

"Wait in the car, I'll be out soon." He said, putting his arm around Emily's shoulders and walking down the hall.

"What are you guys doing?" She said as Dean opened the door to their bedroom.

"Ya know. Stuff." He answered, slipping his jacket off.

"Totally not suspicious at all." She said, pulling the pins out of her hair and taking it down.

Dean took his shirt off and hung both up in the closet.

"Don't worry about it." He said.

"Yeah okay. Unzip me?" She said, turning her back to him and holding her hair up.

He walked over and unzipped her dress slowly, kissing the crook of her neck.

"Oh no no, you have to go do stuff" she said, turning around and kissing him. "And I'm not worrying about it."

Dean groaned as she dropped the dress to the floor and turned around, walking into the bathroom. He continued changing into his usual get up as Emily took her makeup off in the bathroom. She stepped out, grabbing sweats and a T-shirt from the dresser and slipping them on. She hung up the dress in her closet before she flipped the sheets over and climbed into bed, a fake pout spreading across her face.

"Can't believe you're leaving me on Christmas Eve." She huffed, crossing her arms.

He walked over to her and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over her and brushing her hair back with his hand.

"Trust me, you'll be happy about it later."

"You're being very cryptic." She said, putting her hands on either side of his face and pulling him close to her.

"On purpose." He said, kissing her deeply.

He pulled back and brushed her hair back again.

"Thank you again for tonight." She said, rubbing her thumbs on his cheeks. "It was incredible."

"You're welcome. I'll see you in the morning." He said, smiling and kissing her forehead.

He walked out of the room, turning the light off and shutting the door. He left the bunker, climbing in to the drivers seat of the impala.

"So what are we doing?" Cas asked, leaning forward in the front seat.

"We," Sam answered, pulling an ax from under the seat. "Are getting a Christmas tree."

...

Cas quietly opened the door to the bedroom Amy was sleeping in and walked over to the bed. All three of the boys had changed into pajamas to go wake the girls. Dean had let Cas borrow a pair of his, they were slightly too big but he didn't want to be the only one in clothes. He sat down on the edge, shaking her shoulders softly.

"Amy. Wake up, I have something to show you."

She rolled over sleepily, smiling when she woke up enough to see him.

"Merry Christmas." She said, planting a kiss on his lips.

...

Sam walked into their room, laughing to himself. He took a breath before jumping onto the bed, his feet on either side of Kacey's body.

"Kacey wake up its Christmas!" He yelled, jumping so hard her body was practically thrown off the bed.

"Okay okay!" She said laughing. "I'm up!"

He hopped down above her on his hands and knees and kissed her.

"Cmon!" He said, grabbing her hand and pulling her up, running out of the room.

...

Dean stood at the foot of the bed, slightly dreading waking Emily up. She was not a morning person. He walked over and laid down next to her, pressing his chest against her back.

"Emily, you gotta wake up, Santa came last night." He whispered into her ear, kissing her hairline.

"Go away Dean." She replied, rolling over onto her stomach.

"No really." He said, pulling her back up. "You gotta come out here."

"It's 7 am Dean, get the fuck off of me." She said, elbowing him in the chest.

"Ow! C'mon Em. I swear, it's worth it." He said, pulling her off the bed.

She groaned and brushed a hand through her hair, reluctantly standing up. He took her hand and led her out the door. She laughed as he planted a Santa hat on the top of her head.

All of the couples reached the den at the same time, the girls each taking in the scene in front of them. The boys had gone all out. In the center of the room was a huge Christmas tree, decorated from top to bottom with ornaments, lights, and tinsel. There was garland strung up all around the room, wrapped in even more lights. There were presents wrapped under the tree, and cookies, hot chocolate, and pancakes on the coffee table. They had taken little paper snowflakes and hung them up from the ceiling. The other lights in the bunker were dimmed so the room was filled with a warm yellow glow and the smell of pine.

Amy squealed, running down into the room and separating out the gifts. Kacey looked over at Emily, she looked back with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. Kacey walked over and wrapped her in a hug. Dean looked at her questioningly but she just shook her head, she knew the memories it brought back for Emily.

"Travis would have loved this huh?" She said, pulling back and squeezing her shoulders gently.

"Absolutely. Twenty four year old Kacey would have loved this too." Emily said, laughing.

"Are you kidding, we never got to have a real tree. Only tiny fake ones under twenty bucks." She replied, smiling, taking Sam's hand and leading him down to the tree.

Dean walked up behind Emily and put his arms around her shoulders.

"Merry Christmas babe." He said, kissing her temple.

"Merry Christmas." She said, smiling and kissing him. "This is beautiful."

"Cmon you two, time for presents!" Kacey yelled.

They spent the next couple of hours eating, laughing, and opening gifts. Sam and Emily exchanged their favorite books, Kacey and Dean each got one another new guns. Emily and Kacey got one another some clothes (their tradition), Sam and Dean got one another movies (westerns for Dean, action movies for Sam). Cas even got Amy her own angel blade.

"Well Em, you gonna pull out the guitar?" Amy asked. "I've missed your little jam sessions."

"You had to bring that up?" Emily said, burying her face in Deans shoulder.

"Oh c'mon, where's your holiday spirit?" Sam teased.

"Consider it a present to me." Dean added.

"The things I do for you guys." Emily said, getting up from the couch and leaving the room.

"That was my favorite part of our first Christmas." Kacey said. "Sitting in a dingy motel room singing carols with her, doesn't get much better."

"Aw no, the one where she got an entire room of people to sing silent night at Ellen's that one year. Nothing tops that." Amy added, taking a bite of a cookie.

Emily returned a minute later, sat next to Dean and tuned up her guitar. She strummed a few chords and hummed softly to herself before she started singing.

_Have yourself a merry little Christmas_

_Let your heart be light_

_From now on our troubles will be out of sight_

They sat around the bunker for the rest of the morning. Emily, Amy, and Kacey singing while the boys looked on lovingly and enjoying their first Christmas in their new home. A place they could be safe, and a place where they could be a family.

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Before you start leaving comments, yes I know Cas isn't supposed to be here in season 7 but I just wanted to include him so badly! Thanks for reading you guys, please review! Expect a new chapter shortly! (Beware: the smut is coming)


	4. Back From the Dead (Part 1)

**WARNING: SMUT LIES AHEAD**

After trying to find Dean for a year, Sam, Kacey and Emily decide to finally give up their search. Two weeks later, they get a call from someone claiming to be Dean and drop everything to investigate.

This chapter gets smutty. (Dean's been gone for a year, what do you expect?) So it gets an **M rating.**

This one's a two parter, so stay tuned! Feedback is, of course, always appreciated.

As always, I don't own supernatural or any of it characters.

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Sitting in the back of the impala looking out the window, Emily bounced her leg up and down, trying to keep the nerves at bay. They had been driving for at least 12 hours and it was around 3 o'clock in the morning. Sam was driving while Kacey was sleeping with her head against the window. He kept glancing in the rear view mirror, checking on Emily every couple of minutes. When Dean disappeared he took it upon himself to look after her, knowing that's what his brother expected of him. Over the years Emily had become like a sister to him and now that Dean was gone, he had to protect her when Dean couldn't.

"Emily why don't you get some sleep? You've been up for like 2 days straight." Sam asked.

They had been on a hunt the night before going after a vamp nest when Sam got the call from Dean. Even though they knew it was most likely a trap, they dropped everything and started driving.

"You really think I can sleep right now?" She replied, still looking at the window.

"No..." There was a moment of silence between them, old school rock playing softly on the radio.

"This could really be him you know." Sam added softly.

"I know" she replied "but I'm not getting my hopes up again. I can't go through that... Not twice."

The same kind of thing had happened about five months after he had gone missing. Sam got a call from, who they thought, was Dean. He gave them a location and they drove out to meet him there. She had stupidly thought it was really him. Turned out to be some angry leviathan, wanting revenge for killing their precious Dick. Luckily they were prepared for anything, salt, silver, holy water, and borax. She had never mauled a monster so violently in all of her time as a hunter, Sam had to practically rip her off of its mutilated corpse. It was a rough couple of days afterwards, but Sam and Kacey were there to pick her back up like they always were. She would never be able to thank them enough for that.

"Hey," Sam reached across the seat and gently stroked Kacey's cheek. "We're here."

The coordinates Dean had given them took them to a big open field in the middle of nowhere. They pulled up about twenty feet away from the tree line in front of them and got out. They kept the headlights on and pointed at the trees while they unloaded their supplies from the trunk. They had brought the usual testing equipment, silver knives, holy water, and borax. They set all of it on baby's hood and waited, guns ready on their waists. Kacey pulled Emily to the side, away from Sam.

"Are you okay?" Kacey asked in her concerned voice, one Emily had gotten to know very well in their nearly seven years of friendship.

"I'm fine." She answered, looking at her feet.

"Hey," Kacey said sternly, touching her arm. "Look at me. Don't lie to me. We've been friends for a long time ya know, I can see right through you."

Emily sighed, "I just don't know what to think about any of this. I want to think it's him. With every fiber of my being I want to think that, but I've spent the last two weeks trying to tell myself that he's gone and then this pops up?" She looked down at her feet again, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm just confused."

Kacey pulled her into a tight hug. She knew Emily better than anyone and hated seeing what the past year has done to her. She couldn't imagine going through this with Sam, at least when he was gone for a year she knew where he was. She was praying with every ounce of her soul that this would somehow really be Dean. She let go and smiled sweetly at her.

"Whatever it is, we'll figure it out together. Just like we always have." Emily said, squeezing her shoulders.

"Thanks Kace."

They heard a rustling from the edge of the tree line. All three of them whipped around, pointing their guns towards the source of the noise, and there he was. Emily's heart nearly leapt out of her chest as she took him in. He looked exhausted, deep, dark circles under his eyes. He was wearing the same outfit he had disappeared in, the only new item was a small backpack he was carrying on his shoulder. Seeing the guns, he walked out slowly with his hands raised.

"Okay, okay, chill." He stopped about 10 feet in front of the car, shifting his gaze between the three of them. He moved in slow motion, taking the clip out of his gun and tossing both pieces towards them. He pulled off his backpack, setting it on the ground in front of him, pulling out exactly what they had sitting on baby's hood, the holy trinity of testing. Sam, Kacey, and Emily were standing in a line, still as statues, their guns still pointed at him. Dean stood slowly, rolling up his jacket sleeve. He barely flinched as he sliced the knife across his forearm. He rolled his sleeve back down, grabbing the holy water in one hand and dumping it on the other. Emily and Sam looked at each other, Sam changed his stance a bit, shuffling his feet and slightly lowering his gun. She looked back at Dean as her poured the borax over the same hand. Nothing. Sam was the first to move, lowering his gun to his side while the girls followed suit.

"Alright," Dean spoke up, nodding to the hood of the impala. "Your turn."

This time, Emily was the first to move, grabbing the knife, cutting her forearm and passing it along to Kacey. Her and Dean's eyes were locked as she continued on with the holy water. She was still hesitant to think it was actually him. By now she had finally convinced herself that he was gone and that he would never be back. They had searched for a year with not even the slightest idea as to where he was, and they had practically given up. But as she took him in, his tough stance, those all too familiar bowlegs, the warmth in his eyes when he looked at her, she thought that just maybe, they had been proven wrong. When Sam got a hold of the borax, he was already walking toward his brother as he poured it on his hand before wrapping his arms around Dean.

"Hey Sammy."

They stood there for a couple seconds before Sam pulled away with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face, unable to say anything. Dean clapped him on the shoulder before turning and walking to Kacey.

"Hey asshole." She said smiling. He laughed and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"I didn't miss that mouth of yours" he added. They held each other for a short time.

"Welcome back" she said, squeezing him tightly before letting him go.

Emily felt like her feet were nailed to the ground as he turned to her. She didn't know what to think. He was dead. He was supposed to be dead. That's what she had told herself. Yet there he was, standing right in front of her. When he stepped towards her, smiling with his arms out, she took a step back. The smile on his face quickly flashed to a look of concern. She didn't want to let herself believe it was him. Maybe she was scared of being disappointed again, or maybe she was scared of finally having him back. She didn't know.

"Hey, hey." Her eyes flicked back to his. He spoke softly, gently, never taking his eyes off of hers. "It's me. I promise. It's me."

Hesitantly, she walked towards him, trying to make sense of the whole thing. He didn't move a muscle, letting her come to him. He knew how this felt. It was the same way he felt when he saw Sam again after he got out of Lucifer's cage. You've got a million different thoughts running through your head, and he didn't blame her for being hesitant. When she finally reached him, she raised her hands putting them on either side of his face. She looked into his eyes and grazed his cheeks with her thumbs. He smiled at her softly and she put a hand over her mouth as tears formed in her eyes. It was him. He nearly knocked her over when he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. She silently cried into his neck, inviting the wave of relief that washed over her. He rubbed her back and put a hand on her head, kissing her hairline.

"God I missed you." He said softly.

"What the hell happened to you?" Kacey asked from behind them. He answered her, still clinging to Emily.

"Well, I guess standing too close to exploding Dick sends your ass straight to purgatory."

"What?!" Sam and Kacey said in unison. Emily pulled away, putting her hands on his forearms.

"You were in purgatory? For a year?"

"Yeah, time flies when you're running for your life." He smiled grimly.

"Well how did you get out? We've been looking for you for a year, man. We got nowhere." Sam said, stepping forward to stand next to Kacey. Dean sighed, taking a hand off of Emily's waist and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"It's an incredibly long story."

"And Cas? Was he down there with you?" Kacey added.

Dean looked down and shook his head.

"Cas didn't make it out..."

Emily looked down at her feet. Her poor angel. They had assumed he was in some holy prison in heaven, taken away by the other angels, the ones he had betrayed. There was a long moment of silence between the four of them before Dean spoke up.

"Look I'm exhausted, can we just go home, please? Its been way too long since I've slept in a real bed"

"I don't think any of us can make it another 12 hours man. We were in the middle of a vamp nest when we got your message. I don't think Emily's slept in 2 days" Sam answered.

"Pretty sure we passed a motel about four hours ago." Kacey chimed in. "We can crash there for a couple hours, be on the road by noon?"

"As long as a plan involves sleep and a bed, it works for me." Sam fished the keys out of his pocket and held them up. "Dean you wanna drive?"

"As much as I've missed my baby, I think I'll chill in the back." He answered, smiling down at Emily. He took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply.

"Aw, I missed you two." Kacey teased, crawling into the passenger seat.

"Yea, not so much." Sam replied as he got into the driver's seat. "You guys are getting your own room tonight."

Emily laughed and broke the kiss, turning her head towards the car.

"Oh yeah?" She looked back at Dean, smiling. "Well get used to it" she kissed him again, hard and kind of sloppy, knowing they had a lot of lost time to make up for.

"Alright, alright let's go!" Sam yelled from inside the impala. "Damn hormonal teenagers." Kacey laughed as Emily climbed into the back seat. Dean packed up his bag and threw their supplies in the trunk before sitting next to Emily. Dean closed the door and she curled up under his arm. He planted another kiss on the top of her head.

"Get some shut eye babe, you need it." Dean said, shifting slightly so she was in a comfortable position.

"Wow, so quick to get rid of me." She smiled. "We can sleep when we get to the hotel."

"Judging by the looks of you, I'd bet you a hundred bucks you won't be able to stay up another four hours anyway. I know how you get on two days of no sleep. C'mon I'll wake you up when we get there. Besides," he added, whispering this part in her ear. "I don't plan on doing much sleeping at the hotel" she laughed and kissed him again.

"Hey, you too." Sam directed to Kacey. "You've been up just as long as she has."

"You won't see me putting up a fight." Kacey answered, laying down and resting her head in Sam's lap.

Emily reluctantly complied. She was honestly having trouble keeping her eyes open at this point, and within half an hour both girls were dead to the world. Dean sat with his head against the window, running his fingers through Emily's hair. Sam was focused intently on the road, resting a hand on Kacey's arm. After a long silent filled ride, Dean spoke up.

"So you said you guys were in the middle of a vamp nest?"

"Yeah. We had one move in pretty close to the bunker. It was kinda Emily's first normal hunt since you disappeared."

"What?" He looked at Sam through the rearview mirror.

"Dean, when I said we spent the entire year looking for you I wasn't kidding. I mean when Emily wasn't eating or sleeping, she was doing whatever she could to find you. I don't think she slept more than 3 hours a night. It was just constant research, constant searching. The only hunts she went on were the ones that involved you somehow. Kacey and I tried to get her to just do filler cases we would come across but she wouldn't."

"I never asked you guys to do that." Dean shot back.

"You didn't have to Dean. It's just what we do. Had the roles been reversed with any of us, we would have all done the same for each other."

"Sam the last thing I want is to be is mom. Have you guys go on and destroy your lives trying to find me."

"That's why we stopped." Sam stared blankly, keeping his eyes on the road. "We packed everything up about two weeks ago. We reached a dead end for the hundredth time and Kacey and I knew we had to move on. Emily was against it of course but I just told her what she already knew. You wouldn't have wanted us to waste our lives looking for you; you would've wanted her to move on. It wasn't gonna be easy for any of us, but we had to do it." The car was enveloped in silence again. Dean looked down at Emily, her shoulders rising and falling in a slow rhythm.

"Thank you. For taking care of her."

Sam gently brushed Kacey's hair behind her ear.

"Yeah well you would've done the same for me."

They spent the rest of the ride catching up, Sam telling Dean what had gone on in the year he was gone, updating him on the leviathan situation, the different hunts they had gone on, what they had done to find him. They finally arrived at the motel, woke up both the girls, booked two rooms and went on their way. When Dean and Emily got in their room he set his bag down, kicked his boots off and collapsed on the edge of the bed.

"I don't think I have ever been more appreciative of a mattress." He sighed.

Emily laughed as she grabbed a comb from her bag, running it through her long curly hair in front of a mirror on the wall. She took her leather jacket off, leaving her in tank top. Dean sat up and admired her.

"Have I ever told you how absolutely smoking hot you are?" He asked her. She turned towards him, kicked off her shoes and laughed again.

"Such the romantic." She teased.

"C'mere." He beckoned.

She walked to the bed and he took her hands as she bent down to kiss him.

"I never thought I would get to do this again" He said softly against her lips.

"Me either." Emily said as she kissed him, sinking her emotion into the kiss.

His hands grasped the sides of her face and held her to him, his breath rushed gasps as he kissed her passionately. They shifted and he hooked his hands in the crooks of her knees, pulling her onto the bed and wrapping her legs around his waist. She pushed her tongue in his mouth and he let her take over, memorizing every move she made. They gasped for air, moving quickly and impatiently. She pulled away for a second so she could begin to unbutton his shirt and he helped her, pulling it off.

Her tank top came off easier and then their still moment was over. She pushed him down on the bed and kissed her way up his chest. Small moans came from his lips when she sucked in the hollow of his collarbone, her hands everywhere on him. She opened her eyes, trying to capture everything he was, everything that she could reach. She rocked her hips, grinding up against his. His breath hitched and his hands clenched the sheets under them. He pulled her head back to his, drawing her back into the kiss. He pulled at his pants, kicking them away and she pulled hers off.

He sat back up, pulling her with him. Their lips were still at each other, kissing and sucking at anything they could find. She ground down on him, their moans matching. His hands slid down her back gently and she gasped, tossing her head back. His lips were there at her neck. She was going to have a bruise there later, but oh well. Dean's hands were sinking beneath her underwear line and she gasped as he stood her up and pulled them off her. He also yanked his away, pulling her back to their previous position. She reached down and took him in her hand, coaxing a deep moan from his throat. She kissed him full in the mouth, her tongue probing deep as she jerked him off in her hand. He groaned against her mouth and she felt his fingertips grab at her waist as he thrust into his hand.

"Ready?" He gasped, practically in pieces from the lack of contact he was receiving.

"Please." She begged and he pulled her down.

She gasped as she sunk down on him, her hands grasping at his freckled shoulders.

"Fuck." He groaned, his voice broken. He thrust into her slowly and she moved with him.

She rocked back and forth, grinding almost violently down on him. The noises that came out of their mouths were filthy and wonderful at the same time, only silenced by the occasional stolen kiss. She leaned in and touched her forehead to his, making eye contact with those deep green eyes.

"I need you." She whispered, earning a broken moan from him. "I need you to come inside me Dean. Please. I want you to, I need you to."

He gasped as her breathless begging grew so wanting. He sped up and soon, he was crying out as he came, clutching her to him.

She kissed him as her orgasm ripped through her, her moans buried in their tangled lips. They were still for a moment before she laughed a little, earning a smile from him.

"I've missed that." She muttered breathlessly.

"You have no idea." He said, smiling, kissing her collarbone.

"Welcome back." She smiled, kissing him softly.

They separated; glancing at the mess they made throwing their clothes around the room and shrugging it off. They climbed into the bed and he wrapped his arms around her, whispering loving words to her as they fell asleep, finally together again.

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Part two coming soon :) Feedback is appreciated! Hope you guys enjoyed it!


	5. Back From the Dead (Part 2)

**WARNING: SMUT LIES AHEAD (Rated M)**

Part two! This was actually the first fic I ever wrote for these characters. Also, didn't originally have smut, but my friend encouraged me to try writing it, this was my first go at it! I hope you guys enjoy, as always, feedback is much appreciated.

Still don't own supernatural or any of its characters.

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She was lying in bed, eyes wide open. They had gotten back to the bunker at around 9:00, ate dinner, had a couple beers like they used to every night and went off to bed around midnight. For the first time in over a year, the space next to her was warm. Dean had fallen asleep with his arm wrapped tightly around her waist but had shifted onto his back, her way of knowing he was sound asleep. She had naively thought sleeping would be easier with him back, but if anything it was worse, her thoughts were racing.

Her routine had been the same since Dean disappeared. Every hour of every day dedicated to finding him, two to three hours of sleep, four if she was lucky. She never went on a hunt that wasn't centered on finding Dean. Sam and Kacey had desperately tried to focus her attention elsewhere, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

She turned her head; the clock glared 2:15 back at her. She slowly crawled out of bed, careful not to wake him from his first real sleep in the bunker since he'd come back. Taking his sweatshirt off of the closet door and slipping it on like she had done every night, she quietly closed the door behind her. She walked down the long dark hallways of the bunker, the tile cold against her bare feet. As she turned into the men of letters library, she ran her hand along the wall, finding the light switch. Blinking in the sudden brightness, she scanned the shelves of ancient texts, grabbing every book she could find on purgatory and made her way back down the hall. Reaching an unused room towards the back of the bunker, she opened the door.

It was a smaller room, one that was intended to be a bedroom. It was empty except for a bed on the right wall and a desk in the middle of the floor; her computer and a half empty beer still sitting on it from two nights before. She turned the light on, laying her pile of books on the table. This had been her secret room for nearly two weeks, ever since she told Sam she was packing it all away, promising him that she was done looking, that she had accepted Dean was gone. On the back wall hung "the Dean wall", as Sam and Kacey lovingly referred to it. Full of pictures, maps, sketches, anything they had gathered over the past year in their search for him. She sat down at the desk, opened her computer and got to work, searching for any information she could find on getting in and out of purgatory. She had been in the room for all of twenty minutes when that all too familiar sleepy, gruff voice filled the room.

"Am I not invited to the research party?"

"I didn't mean to wake you." she sighed, still looking at her computer.

"Then you shouldn't have left…" He mumbled seeing the books and the wall. "Sam told me you stopped all this stuff weeks ago."

"That's what I told him." She responded coldly.

"C'mon Em, I'm back. What else is there to look for?"

She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"What I missed..." She answered, her voice barely above a whisper, tears starting to sting her eyes.

He walked closer to her, putting a hand gently on her shoulder. "What?"

She stood up, brushing his hand away, and walked toward the wall, trying to keep herself together "I'm trying to figure out what I missed."

"What you missed?"

She turned sharply toward him.

"A year, Dean. I searched for you for an entire year." She gestured towards the map. "We drove all over the damn country. I tortured every monster I could get my hands on, demons, leviathans, vamps, you name it, trying to get _any_ information on you and got nowhere, so yeah, I'm trying to find what I missed."

"Emily..." He said softly, reaching a hand to her face.

"Don't." She slapped his hand away. "Do you want to know why we stopped looking for you? We finally got to Crowley. Even he didn't know where you were or how to get you back and we had to face reality. Sam said we had to move on... or more specifically I did. So I convinced myself you were gone." The tears began streaming down her face. "Because honestly? It was easier. Knowing you were dead was easier than knowing you were out there somewhere and I couldn't get to you. Than knowing I left you to _rot_ in purgatory."

"Don't you dare think that." He said sternly. "There was nothing you could do. There was one way out and it took me that long to find it, there was no way you could have known."

At this point she had completely lost it. Much to her dismay, all of the emotions she had kept down for the past year came spewing out. She hated crying in front of him.

"It doesn't matter! We find each other, we protect each other it's what we do, and I couldn't- I stopped looking- " Her sobs were cutting off her words "I'm sorry Dean, I'm so sorry"

Dean took her into his arms, the place he knew she felt the most safe. He led her to the bed and put her on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his waist and sobbed into his neck, trying her best to pull herself back together, and he just let her cry. Rubbing her back and kissing her hairline, knowing she had been holding all of this in for so long.

"Shh it's okay. I'm back. I'm here. I'm okay." He whispered sweetly into her ear. "None of this is your fault, you hear me? None of it."

She always did this, putting everyone else's needs before her own. Just one of the many things he loved about her. They sat there for a while, Dean holding her while she let the past twenty four hours sink in. She had found him; or rather he had found her. He was okay. He was safe. He was alive. No more sleepless nights, no more empty beds, no more missing him. He was back, and he was hers. When she was finally able to compose herself she gently kissed the crook of his neck, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I missed you." She whispered.

"Me too…" he said kissing her forehead. "Now c'mon, what do you say we box up this stuff for good?"

She lifted her head to look in those green eyes she had missed so much. He cupped her face with his hands, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. She gave him a small smile.

"Okay."

He kissed her softly and sweetly. This was the side of Dean not a lot of people got the privilege of seeing, it really only came out when he was alone with her. He became more open, more sweet and protective. She was grateful that he didn't have to put up his wall around her.

They got up from the bed, walked over to the wall and one by one, pulled the pictures and clippings off of it, tossing them into a trash bin by the desk. Each item they brought down felt like a weight being lifted off of her shoulders. When the Dean wall was finally taken down, they each took a pile of books and left the little bedroom. Making their way down the dark hallway, they returned the books to their proper place in the library. Dean wrapped an arm around her waist and led her back to their bedroom.

He slipped off the sweater he had pulled on, leaving him in pajama pants, and she took off his sweatshirt, hanging it back on the closet door. Slipping back under the covers, they laid on their side facing one another. Tucking her hair back behind her ear, he ran his thumb in a line down her jaw. When he reached her chin, he pulled her face up towards his, setting a kiss on her lips.

As the kiss deepened they held onto everything they had been missing this past year. She felt the scruff on his cheeks, tasted the beer on his lips, lingered on his faint smell of pine and oak. He felt the softness of her hands tracing the muscles on his back, smelled her peppermint shampoo, the same kind she had used since the day they met. They slowly pulled away from each other, touching their foreheads together, eyes still closed.

"I love you so much" he whispered through the dark.

She was slightly surprised; usually she was the first to say it. He wasn't exactly the best at sharing his feelings. However, in the short time he had been back, she could tell Dean was different. Purgatory had changed him. He was softer with her, more protective, more appreciative of the little things.

"I love you too." She smiled back at him while tears brimmed in her eyes. He laughed at her, wiping her eyes again.

"You've cried more today than you do when you watch the notebook"

She shook her head and laughed

"Shut up..." she jeered, rolling on top of him and kissing him passionately.

He returned the favor, running his calloused hands down her back and up under her t-shirt. She ran her fingers through his hair, tugging at it playfully. His lips left her mouth as he worked his way down her neck, ending on her collarbone. He sat up, bringing him with her, wrapping her legs around his waist. He cradled her face with his hands, and had a look of hunger in his eyes.

"Two nights in a row?" she teased "Aren't I a lucky girl."

"An entire year without sex is way too long" he smiled slyly at her.

"I guess we have a lot of catching up to do then" she replied seductively, slipping his shirt over his head, softly kissing his anti-possession tattoo and running her fingers gently down his back.

He took her shirt off and let out a low groan of agreement as he kissed her chest, her hands pulling at his hair. Their mouths met again, more forcefully now, their lips and tongues moving in unison. They pressed their bodies tightly together, both hungry for the feeling they had been missing for so long. Dean gently pushed Emily to the side and onto her back, putting his hands on either side of her shoulders, kissing her neck and trailing his way down.

"Dean..." She murmured, gasping at his touch.

He lingered on her neck, breast bone, and down her stomach until he reached the waistband of her sweatpants. He slowly slipped them off of her, his touch leaving trails of goose bumps down her legs. He spread her knees, kissing the inside of her thighs, causing her to let out a small moan. He smiled, coming back up to kiss her lips, pressing his body against hers. She could feel him getting hard and reached down to unbutton his pants. He helped her take them off, both of them moving slowly, savoring every second, memorizing every slight touch between them. They had gotten their eagerness out the night before and they had no intentions of rushing this time. Slipping one another's underwear off, they kissed each other passionately.

"So beautiful..." He whispered into her, his lips never leaving her skin. She moaned as she ground her hips into his, making sure he was ready.

"Fuck." He groaned into her neck.

They hardly left any space between them, savoring every touch, tasting the salty sweat on one another. He finally went inside of her, causing her to gasp and arch her back up into his body. They rocked slowly, bodies moving in unison. Her breath was hot against his neck, one hand tangled in his hair, and the other digging into his back. His breathing was hitched, letting out low groans with every thrust. She was clawing at his back, wrapping her legs around his waist again, her toes curling in pleasure. Dean was letting out broken moans, thinking only she had the power to make him so weak. The feeling of their bodies touching was electric; they covered each other with kisses. She nibbled his ear and spoke pleadingly into it.

"Don't stop, please." Her breathless pleading only turned him on more, coaxing him up to his climax.

"Aw, fuck, baby." He said, slightly throwing his head back. Her breathing grew more rapid and her begging continued until her orgasm tore violently through her body. Her loud yells were enough to put him over the edge and he cried out into her shoulder, clenching his fists and biting her slightly as he held her body close to his. They laid on top of each other for a few minutes, catching their breath.

"Damn" she exhaled as Dean rolled over onto his back. She turned on her side, slipped under his arm and he held her protectively.

"If this is what I get coming back from purgatory, hell, I'll go more often"

She laughed at him, gently kissing his pec and humming softly to herself.

"That's how I got to sleep at night while I was down there you know. I imagined you singing to me."

He was one of the few people that had ever heard her sing, and pretty much the only one besides Kacey she let listen to her willingly. She didn't think she was any good but when Dean heard her sing with Kacey and Jo when they had first started dating, he had her sing to him constantly. Some nights he would rifle through her song journal, asking her to play certain ones. She was still so self-conscious of it, but he could listen to her voice all day.

"Now who's the sappy one?" she teased. He laughed and kissed the top of her head.

"It's true though" she felt his body stiffen slightly. "It was... God it was awful down there. But I knew I had to get out. Get back to you guys..."

She moved up slightly and kissed him gently, releasing the tension in his body.

"It's ok, cause you're back now. That's all that matters. You made it back to me."

"I always do." He kissed her again, savoring the taste of her lips and sighed. "You make me way too sappy, you know that?"

She laughed and laid her head on his chest.

"I don't make you anything; I simply bring the inner romantic out of you." He could see her sly smile even without looking at her face.

"Yeah, whatever." He said, closing his eyes and pulling her close.

She started humming again, tracing little circles on his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair, thankful that he was able to do this again. There were plenty of nights in purgatory that he didn't think he would ever make it back. Back to his brother, a girl that was now basically his younger sister, and _his_ girl. The only girl that had ever been able to make him feel like he mattered, like he was more than his past. More than a dropout, more than a guy with a dead beat dad and a dead mother, more than some hunter. He knew how lucky he was too, hunters aren't supposed to get happy endings. Living in a stable place with his brother and their respective girlfriends with an angel popping in every now and again, it wasn't normal, but he couldn't care less. For the first time in his life, he and Sammy were both happy, and that was all that mattered. And as he listened to her adorable little snore that he loved and slowly drifted off to sleep himself, that was the last word that lingered on his mind. Lucky.

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I'm running out of material! Before I started posting I had all of this stuff already written, my supply is running low. Thanks for reading, if you guys have ideas for scenes you want, please let me know!


	6. Dean's Birthday

***WARNING: SMUT LIES AHEAD***

Dean gets a little birthday surprise from Emily. **Rated M.**

Reviews are always appreciated :)

I don't own supernatural or any of its characters.

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January 24th was a cold and snowy day in Kansas. It was Dean's 33rd birthday and Sam, Kacey, and Emily had treated him to a day of Dean. Homemade burgers and pie, target practice, they even found an old western showing at a tiny movie theatre in town. After a day full of birthday festivities, the group was ready to call it a night. The two couples walked down the long bunker hallways to their rooms, saying goodnight to each other over their shoulders.

"Happy birthday Dean!" Kacey shouted as she closed the door to her and Sam's room. Dean and Emily continued down the hallway, his arm around her shoulders.

"I can't believe you girls insist on celebrating birthdays." He said annoyingly, opening up the door to their room.

"Only boring people don't celebrate birthdays." She teased, walking over to the dresser and pulling a gift bag from the top drawer.

"More presents?" he asked, reaching for the bag. She pulled it back away from him

"This one, I have to put on. I'll be right back." She smiled slyly at him, walking into the bathroom and shutting the door.

She took off her jeans and top, slipping on the red number Kacey had helped her pick out at the mall a couple of days before. The bottom was a simple red lace, while the top was a red bow that tied across her chest. She took the bobby pins out of her hair, letting the curls fall to her shoulders. She took a step back, looking at herself in the mirror.

_Oh yeah, he's gonna love this_. She thought to herself.

When she opened the door, Dean was sitting on the bed looking at his phone. His head turned at the sound of the door and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. She laughed, walking over to him.

"Good choice?" she asked, climbing onto the bed on her knees and straddling his lap.

"I change my mind, I like birthdays." He said, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck.

"I thought you might say that." She lifted his chin and kissed him hard on the mouth.

His hands left her waist and started to take off his shirt.

"Oh no, I'm in charge tonight." She replied pulling his hands away. "You don't make a move until I tell you to."

He smiled at her.

"C'mon Em, you know it's always better when I take the reins." He said in a low voice, tracing his lips along her collar bone.

"We'll see about that." She replied, putting her hands on his chest and shoving him down on the bed.

He looked back at her, surprised.

"Ok then." He said, a slight smile playing at his lips. "Let's see what you got Carrington."

She leaned down and kissed him, her tongue invading his mouth. She ground her hips into his, making a small moan escape his mouth. He moved his hands to her waist and she grabbed them, pinning them above his head.

"I said, don't. move." She whispered in his ear, grazing her teeth against his neck as her mouth moved down his chest. She ripped open his shirt, popping a couple buttons.

"Take it off." She told him.

He leaned up slightly and tossed his shirt to the side. She moved her hands down his chest, dragging her nails, making his back arch slightly. She smiled as she unbuttoned his pants, shimmying them down his legs, taking his boxers with them. She spread his legs slightly, kissing the inside of his thighs, sending chills down his spine. She slowly moved her way back up his chest, licking and kissing his muscles on the way up. When she reached his mouth, she slipped one hand down and took him in her hand. He let out a stifled groan underneath her lips. She pulled her head back slightly.

"Oh, you like that?" She asked him, delicately circling his head with her thumb.

Her touch made him cry out into her neck, clutching the sheets underneath him. She stroked painfully slow, enjoying him writhing beneath her touch. Her mouth was smashed against his, forcing his lips to move with hers. She rubbed him faster, precum leaking over her fingers. He was gasping for air when she let go of him suddenly, grabbing his arms and pulling him upright.

"Go ahead." She said, flicking her eyes down to the bow.

He took the end of the bow and pulled it slowly, untying it and tossing it to the corner of the room. She pulled his head into her chest and she moaned as his mouth moved over her breasts, he echoed hers as she ground down hard into his lap. Her fingers tangled into his hair, pulling his head back. She crushed her lips to his again, leaving them both gasping for air. She pushed him back down on the bed and slowly took her underwear off.

"Em. Please." He begged.

She laid down, pressing her body to his.

"What?" She whispered, brushing her lips against his ear. "Do you want me? Do you want to come inside of me?"

"Please." He begged her, putting his hands on her waist. She grabbed them and pinned them by his head again, more harshly than before.

"You don't move." She said sternly, trailing her fingers down his arms. She sat up, adjusting her position slightly, and sunk down onto him. She put her hands on his chest and they both let out a moan together as she lowered her hips down onto his. She leaned forward and grabbed his hands, bringing them to her waist. Dean's fingers dug into her hips, pulling her down hard on every thrust. Her nails dug into his arms as she moaned obscenely. She leaned forward, smashing her mouth against his. The change in position made Dean louder than usual, crying out every time she went down on him. She grabbed his hands and moved them from her waist to her shoulders. He held him tightly to her, tangling one hand in her hair and wrapping the other around her shoulders. She separated their mouths, moving across his jaw and biting his ear. He buried his face into her neck, stifling his moans against her skin.

"Fuck, Emily." He moaned into her.

She loved that he was breaking at her touch, falling apart under her lips. She loved making him weak.

"Mmm, I love when you moan my name." She said into his ear, grinding down slow and hard on him. "Do you like the way I fuck you?"

Dean couldn't form words, he just moaned into her neck. Their bodies moved together, rough and faster than before. She thrust down hard on him, digging her nails into his shoulders.

"Come for me baby." She commanded him, finally sending him over the edge.

He cried out, louder than she had ever heard him, throwing his head back, his back arching off the bed. His arms locked around her, holding her to him. She practically screamed as her orgasm ripped through her, her open mouth pressing into his shoulder. They stayed in that position for a couple of minutes, needing more time than usual to catch their breath and remember how to move again. She was the first to move, kissing his neck and laying her head on his shoulder.

"Happy birthday... Old man." She giggled, kissing his neck again.

"Hey," he said softly into her hair "you'll be thirty in like two weeks."

"Shutup." She said, rolling onto her side with Dean's arm still around her. He lifted her chin and kissed her softly.

"God you are amazing. Why don't you do that more often?" He said, kissing her forehead.

She laughed at him.

"Then what would I do on your birthday?" She asked. "Besides, I don't think you could handle it."

"That's probably true." He replied, wrapping her in his arms and kissing the top of her head. "You surprised me."

"After three years I'm still surprising you?" She asked, looking up at him. "Damn, I must be good."

He smiled at her.

"Yeah, you are." He said, looking her in the eye.

"I'm not gonna lie though, I practiced that dirty talk for like a week and I still felt stupid saying it." She said.

He laughed loudly and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you." He told her softly.

She put a hand on his face, rubbing his cheek with her thumb.

"I love you too." She answered, lifting her face up to kiss him. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. He kissed her head and whispered loving words into her ear, and they fell asleep in each other's arms.


	7. The Year Off (Part 1)

Sam is in the cage, Kacey is off on her own, and Dean and Emily have given up the life.

Takes place in the year between season five and season six. Enjoy!

As usual, I don't own Supernatural or any of its characters.

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Emily rolled over to find the spot next to her empty. She groggily looked over at the clock, reading 9:00 am. It was Sunday, Emily's day off, but Dean had to go in to the garage to finish up a car he was working on. She begrudgingly got out of bed, walking out of the bedroom and into the living room/ kitchen area. The apartment was on the smaller side, but it was the nicest place she had stayed in since she left her father's house, and it was all theirs.

After Sam went into the cage and Kacey went off on her own, Dean and Emily had decided to follow Sam's wish and give up hunting. Bobby had helped them get the apartment set up, he had helped the landlord with a ghost problem back in the day and she let them pay a quarter of the rent until they got enough money to support themselves. Dean picked up a mechanic job and Emily was waitressing, eventually they made enough to pay full rent and have extra for themselves.

She pulled open the refrigerator door, grabbing the ingredients she had bought yesterday for the pie. As she closed the door and turned towards the counter, a flash of red caught her eye. She looked back to see a small bouquet of roses sitting in a vase on the kitchen table. She set the ingredients down on the counter before walking over to the flowers and plucking the handwritten card from the middle.

_Happy two years love. I'm getting off of work at 4, got reservations for us at Tony's tonight. See you then._

_- Dean_

She smiled to herself, leaning in and smelling the bouquet.

Five years ago, she never could have imagined this was where she would end up. Giving up hunting, living a somewhat normal life again. It hadn't been easy by any means. She would usually catch Dean up at night on his computer, drinking and trying to find a way to rescue Sam. He would find her up at night on the phone with Bobby, checking up on Kacey. They still kept guns in the bedside table, holy water under the bed, and had a demon trap painted under their welcome mat, but they were getting by.

She popped open the trashcan and started peeling the apples. She heard the sound of the little paws on the counter and turned towards it.

"There you are Toulouse." She said, stroking the small black cats back.

He peered up at her, his pale blue gaze following the sound of her voice.

Dean had brought him home from the garage after he had worked there for about a month. He had found him as a newborn kitten, soaking wet and shaking, curled up in the corner of the shop and brought him home wrapped up in a towel. They took him to the vet and found out he was about a month old, had all sorts of infections, fleas, and was blind as a bat. In Dean's words, "He was perfect."

They took him in and nursed him back to health, within a month he was good as new. He ran into a lot of tables the first couple of weeks but eventually learned to maneuver the apartment like a pro. Dean had wanted to name him something "cool" like midnight or shadow, but the Aristocats was her favorite movie growing up and Toulouse won in the end.

She picked up the small bag of cat food next to the fridge and poured a bit into his metal bowl before turning back to the counter and holding up the pie pan to him.

"Am I the best girlfriend ever or what?"

...

"Dean, C'mon. You're late for me letting you off early." Seth said, kicking the pair of legs sticking out from underneath the car.

"Hold on, I'm almost finished." Dean answered.

"Dude." He said, leaning down and grabbing his ankles, pulling him out from under the car. "You're gonna be late, go home."

Dean stood up with a sigh, grabbing his keys and jacket from the tool bench.

"Thanks man." Dean said, clapping him on the shoulder as he walked out.

"No problem, good luck!" Seth called after him.

"Thanks." He called over his shoulder.

He pulled open the door to the impala and sat down, digging around in the glove compartment before pulling out a small velvet box. He slipped it in his pocket and smiled to himself before turning the key in the ignition and pulling out of the lot.

...

Dean pulled open the door and hung his jacket on the coat rack.

"Em?" He said loudly, walking down the short hallway leading into the living room.

He heard a small meow and looked down to see Toulouse rubbing against his leg.

"Hey buddy." He said, leaning down and patting his head before continuing into the living room.

Emily was pulling the pie out of the oven when he turned the corner.

"Oh my god, I love you." He said, walking over to her and plating a kiss on her lips before taking a water bottle from the fridge.

"You're not that hard to please." She laughed, setting the pie on the counter.

He sauntered over to her and placed his hands on her hips, pulling her into him.

"Serve that to me naked and I can die happy." He teased, leaning in and kissing her. "Happy anniversary to me."

She laughed and pulled back, wiping a spot of grease from his forehead.

"You're filthy. Go take a shower, our reservation's in an hour."

"Care to join me?" He asked in a low voice, biting his lip slightly.

"Unlike you, I need more than ten minutes to get ready." She said before kissing him again.

He groaned before turning and walking into the bedroom. She laughed and followed him into the room, opening up the closet and riffling through her clothes.

"I won't have time to shave." He said, popping his head out from the bathroom door next to her.

"Don't worry about it." She smiled, reaching over and rubbing his jaw. "I like the scruff."

"Good to know." He said, winking at her before stepping back in to the bathroom.

He was in the shower for about ten minutes while Emily changed into a small black dress. He emerged with a towel around his waist as Emily was standing in front of the dresser mirror, applying the last of her makeup. He walked beside her and kissed her temple.

"You look beautiful." He said before bending down to get a pair of underwear from the drawer.

"Thank you." She replied with a smile, taking a small step back, out of the way of the drawer.

He walked back over to the closet and pulled out a pair of slacks, a button up shirt, and a blazer.

"Did you get to finish the car?" She asked, sitting on the bed and slipping her heels on.

"Pretty much. Seth had to finish it up for me." He replied, pulling his boxers on and slipping his shirt over his shoulders.

"How is he? I haven't seen him in a while."

"He's great, finally got the balls to propose to Sarah." He said, pulling his blazer on.

"What? That little bitch didn't even call me. I mean it's about time, they've only been together for what, ten years now?" she asked, standing up and grabbing her bag.

"He took the death of his first wife pretty hard, Sarah knew that. But I think even she was getting impatient recently. You should expect a call from her later, I think she wanted to go grab lunch." He said, turning around and holding his hand out to her. "You ready to go?"

"Yes!" She smiled, taking his hand in hers.

…..

They got back to the apartment at around ten, laughing as they walked through the door.

"Well I promise, on this ski trip, I will not let you ski into a tree." Dean laughed, holding the door open for her.

"Good, because I ended up breaking my wrist and I didn't let Travis hear the end of it for months."

Dean walked into the living room and fell onto the couch.

"Okay, you got your gift, where's mine?" He asked.

She laughed and walked to the corner of the room, pulling her guitar off of the stand.

"Well, you've only been asking me for like, a year and a half, but I figure I can finally play you something I wrote." She said, sitting down next to him.

"Finally!" He smiled, leaning up. "Which one do I get to hear?"

"It's called distance." She replied, sheepishly. "I wrote it before we started dating."

She fumbled and plucked the strings softly, tuning them carefully.

"You're cute when you're nervous." He teased.

She laughed nervously, tucking her hair behind her ear and shifting her position so she was facing him.

"Okay." She muttered, taking a deep breath before gently plucking the strings, the soft melody flowing from her fingers.

"_The sun is filling up the room_

_And I can hear you dreaming_

_Do you feel the way I do right now?"_

A huge smile spread across Dean's face as her gentle, but slightly rough voice filled the room. She had sung in front of him before, but he never got to hear her sing anything she wrote, she had always been too self-conscious about it to share it with him.

"_I wish we would just give up_

_Cause the best part is falling_

_Call it anything but love_

_And I will make sure to keep my distance_

_Say, I love you, when you're not listening_

_And how long can we keep this up, up, up?"_

She looked up at him and smiled slightly, closing her eyes before starting again.

"_Please don't stand so close to me_

_I'm having trouble breathing"_

He laughed to himself at that line, and she looked up and smiled in return.

"_I'm afraid of what you'll see right now_

_I give you everything I am_

_All my broken heart beats_

_Until I know you'll understand_

_And I will make sure to keep my distance_

_Say, I love you, when you're not listening_

_And how long can we keep this up, up, up?"_

She closed her eyes again and swayed slightly as the strumming picked up.

"_And I keep waiting_

_For you to take me_

_You keep waiting_

_To save what we have_

_So I'll make sure to keep my distance_

_Say, I love you, when you're not listening_

_And how long can we keep this up, up, up?_

_Make sure to keep my distance_

_Say, I love you, when you're not listening_

_How long 'til we call this love, love, love?"_

As she finished out the last of the guitar line, she looked up at him, biting her lip. She set the guitar on the couch next to her.

"I haven't played it in a long time and I wrote it a while ago so it's probably not my best-" She stammered before he laughed, leaned over, and cut her off with a kiss.

"It's perfect." He muttered against her lips before kissing her again.

He pulled away and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"I'm glad you like it." She smiled, scooting closer to him and undoing his tie.

He was looking her in the eye and had a huge grin on his face, rubbing his thumb along her jaw.

"Marry me." He blurted out suddenly, not taking his eyes off of hers.

"What?" She laughed, pulling the tie from his neck.

He reached inside of his coat pocket and pulled out a small velvet box.

"If we're gonna live a normal life I wanna do it right." He said softly, opening up the box to reveal a small rose gold ring.

It had a small diamond in the middle set on top of a detailed set piece with a thin, smooth band.

"It was Bobby's wife's."

"It's beautiful." She murmured, touching it lightly with the tip of her finger.

"Sooo is that a yes?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

She laughed and kissed him softly.

"Of course."

He took the ring out of the box and took her left hand in his, slipping it onto her finger.

"Perfect fit." He said, smiling at her before kissing her again, deeper than before.

She laughed as he pulled her over on top of him before they were interrupted by Dean's cell phone. She groaned and laid her head on his shoulder, kissing his neck.

"Tell them we're busy." she muttered into his skin.

"Hey Seth, perfect timing." He said, putting the phone on his ear. "Of course she said yes."

"You told Seth?" She asked, pulling her head up.

"I needed advice." He said defensively.

"_EMILY!_" She heard from the receiver as Dean held the phone to her.

"I think Sarah wants to talk to you." He laughed, putting his phone on speaker.

"Hey Sarah, congratulations! Dean told me about the proposal." She smiled.

"Eeeee congratulations to you too! I'm sorry I didn't call, but you know I'm horrible at keeping secrets and if I would've called I wouldn't have been able to keep my mouth shut. Oooh I'm so happy for you guys, you two belong together." Sarah gushed.

"Thank you." Emily replied, smiling.

"Let the wedding planning begin." She said.

Emily could hear her mischievous smile through the phone and laughed.

"I'll help you plan the big wedding, Dean and I can be happy hitting up the courthouse." She said, laying her head back down on his shoulder. Dean chuckled, kissed her forehead and put his hand on her hair.

"Oh please, I'm almost forty, I'm too old to have a big wedding. Those are reserved for you young people."

"Cmon, you know you two would be the only ones we would want to invite anyway. I promise you can sit front row to see us sign a marriage certificate." Emily said.

"Yeah we'll see about that. Anyway, I'll let you go, you guys probably have some stuff you want to do tonight." She teased.

Seth let out a wolf whistle in the background and Dean chuckled.

"Good_ bye_ Sarah." Emily laughed.

"_Byyee_." she said in a sing songy voice before hanging up.

They sat in silence for a moment, Emily's playing with the collar on Dean's blazer, Dean running his fingers through Emily's hair.

"Emily Winchester... It has a nice ring to it." She said, smiling.

"I think so." He said, kissing the top of her head.

"And a ski trip makes a perfect honeymoon spot."

Dean laughed and took the phone from her, shifting her back over to the side.

"I told Bobby I would tell him your answer." He said.

She held up her hand and smiled as Dean snapped a picture of her.

"We should go visit soon. I miss him." She said, watching as Dean sent the picture off.

She heard the phone ding and Dean turned the screen towards her.

_Bobby:_

_I expect an invite._

"Now we have a total of three wedding guests." She laughed, standing up and walking into the kitchen.

"What about Kacey?" He called from the couch.

She came back and sat down next to him, holding the pie and two forks.

"Well I would say she's interested if she had been answering any of my calls for the past eight months." She handed a fork to Dean. "If it weren't for her checking in with Bobby I would think she's dead."

"She'll come around. Losing Sam was hard on her." He said, stuffing a forkful of pie into his mouth.

"Losing Sam was hard on all of us, doesn't really give her an excuse to disappear." She said.

"She's gotta deal with it her own way." Dean said matter-of-factly.

"Can we not talk about this? I'm really not in the mood to be pissed at her." She said, putting a piece of pie in her mouth.

"We can talk about how amazing this pie is." He said with his mouth full.

She smiled and used her thumb to wipe some pie filling off the side of his mouth.

"Thank you. It's actually my mom's recipe."

"Your mom knew how to make a damn good pie. I do know what could make it better though."

"I'm not serving you pie naked." She said dryly, setting the pie and her fork down on the coffee table in front of them.

"Okay then Mrs. Winchester, how would you like to end the night?" He said is a mocking seductive voice.

She leaned back on the couch and dramatically put the back of her hand on her forehead.

"Take me to bed or lose me forever." She replied, matching his tone.

"God I love it when you talk Top Gun to me." He growled, standing up and slipping his arms underneath her, picking her up and putting her over his shoulder.

She yelped and laughed as he walked her back into the bedroom.

...

She had felt Dean get out of bed about an hour ago and finally peeled back the sheets to bring him back. She figured it was his usual, a nightmare followed up by researching for Sam, but when she opened the bedroom door and waked out into the living room, she found him sitting on the couch with his dad's journal open in front of him. She silently peered over his shoulder and saw him going through a pile of pictures, some of he and Sam, a couple of he and Bobby when Dean was a kid, a picture their family, John holding toddler Dean, Mary holding a tiny bundle of Sam in her arms. The last picture he flipped to was a picture of him and Mary, her arm wrapped around his neck, a sweet smile spread across both of their faces.

"Hey, mom." He spoke quietly.

She smiled and leaned back against the counter. He hardly ever got sentimental in front of her, it was nice to see him show his soft side every once and a while, even if it was in secret.

"I'm getting married tomorrow. You would love her, mom. She's... amazing. Gorgeous, funny, smart as hell, can hunt like no one's business... She makes me happy." He paused, rubbing his thumb over the photo. "God I wish you could be here." He added, his voice faltering at the end.

Emily leaned up from the counter and walked to the back of the couch, wrapping her arms around Dean's neck and kissing his temple.

"Another nightmare?" She asked.

He nodded in response, leaning back into her.

"She was beautiful." She said gently, looking at the photo.

"Yeah." He replied, wiping his eyes.

"Come back to bed," she said, patting his chest. "Big day tomorrow."

He smiled and turned his head towards hers, kissing her softly.

"I love you." He murmured.

She smiled and kissed him again before he stood up and slipped his arms around her waist.

"I love you too."

...

Dean and Emily walked into the court room, hand in hand. Seth, Sarah, and Bobby followed close behind them. Dean was in his usual attire, jeans, and button up shirt and jacket. She had wanted to look the part, Ellen had always told her she regretted not wearing a dress to her wedding, so she did it for her. She was in a loose white dress, a simple spaghetti strap top with a skirt that stopped mid-calf. They were met at the front of the room by the officiant.

"Hey guys, my name is Betty, I'll be the one marrying you today." She said with a smile. "If you guys could face each other and join hands please."

They followed her instructions, standing about a foot apart and taking each other's hands.

"And if I can have the witnesses stand around them."

Bobby, Seth and Sarah stepped forward, making a semi-circle around them.

"Alright, let's get started then!" Betty said, opening up a journal and slipping her glasses from the top of her head onto her nose. "If I could have the rings?"

Bobby stepped forward, fishing the rings out of his coat pocket and handed them to Betty. Emily had her engagement ring and Dean was using the ring he had worn since he and Sam started hunting together.

"The wedding ring is a symbol of unity, a circle unbroken without beginning or end. And today, Dean and Emily give and receive these rings in demonstrations of their vows to make their life one,"

Dean squeezed Emily's hand and smiled at her.

"To work at all times to create a love that is whole and unbroken, and to love each other without end. I assume you memorized the vows you picked?" She said, handing Emily's ring to Dean.

They nodded and Dean took the ring from her and slipped it on Emily's finger, taking both of her hands in his and looking into her eye.

"Emily, I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife. Before these witnesses I vow to love you and care for you as long as we both shall live. I take you with all your faults and your strengths as I offer myself to you with my faults and strengths. I will help you when you need help, and I will turn to you when I need help. I choose you as the person with whom I will spend my life."

They smiled at each other, laughing slightly at how formal the words sounded coming out of his mouth.

"Emily?" Betty asked, handing her the ring.

Emily took it from her and slipped it on Dean's finger, taking a steadying breath before continuing.

"Dean, I take you to be my lawfully wedded husband. Before these witnesses I vow to love you and care for you as long as we both shall live. I take you with all your faults and your strengths as I offer myself to you with my faults and strengths. I will help you when you need help, and I will turn to you when I need help. I choose you as the person with whom I will spend my life."

Betty paused a moment before closing her book and looking up at Dean.

"You guys don't strike me as the sentimental type, so I'll skip the corny stuff."

The group laughed before she continued.

"Emily and Dean, in so much as the two of you have agreed to live together in Matrimony, have promised your love for each other by these vows, by the power vested in me by the state of Kansas, I now declare you to be husband and wife. You may kiss one another."

The group clapped as Dean stepped forward and took Emily's face in his hands, setting a soft but eager kiss on her lips. When they separated, Sarah ran up and threw her arms around Emily.

"Congratulations sweetie." She said.

"Thank you. I'm glad you're here." Emily responded, pulling back and smiling at her.

"Congratulations you two." Seth said, clapping Dean on the shoulder and kissing Emily on the cheek.

"Thanks man." Dean said, taking the marriage certificate from Betty. "And thank you."

"You're very welcome! I wish you guys all the best." Betty said before walking out of the room.

Bobby walked up to Dean and hugged him, saying something in his ear for only him to hear. She saw the look on Dean's face change, she assumed he said something about Sam, maybe even his parents. He then turned to Emily and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"Thanks for getting him out." He muttered into her ear. "Thanks for making my boy happy again."

He let go of her and smiled at her sweetly.

"Ellen would've been so proud of you." He said softly.

She smiled as she felt tears sting her eyes. Ellen and Jo's deaths were still so fresh in her memory. They were the closest thing to a family she had ever had, and had been taken from her in an instant. Ellen was like a mother to her, Jo was the sister she never had. Now Dean and Bobby were all she had left, and she couldn't be more grateful for them.

"Thanks for everything Bobby." She said genuinely.

"Alright, let's not get too sentimental, we have a cabin to get to." Dean said, walking over to Emily and putting an arm around her waist.

They walked outside of the courthouse to see 'just married' written on the impala's back window. Dean turned to Seth, shooting him a dirty look.

"You didn't really think I wasn't gonna touch the car right?" Seth asked.

Dean shook his head, walking towards the driver's side.

"Don't think I'm gonna let this go." He said, opening up the door.

"Wait wait wait!" Sarah said, running up and pulling her phone out of her bag. "You need your first picture as a married couple!"

Dean groaned and shut the door, walking back around to Emily.

"Over there." Sarah said, pointing to a small pond next to the courthouse. "It's perfect."

Dean groaned louder, stomping his feet and walking over to the area Sarah pointed to. Emily laughed at him and joined him by the pond.

"Smile!" Sarah said, holding up her phone.

Emily looked up at Dean as he wrapped his arm around her and saw a scowl spread across his face.

"You're such a child." She said, hitting his chest.

"And now you're stuck with me." He replied.

She laughed as Sarah snapped the picture.

"There, I'm done. Was that so hard?" Sarah asked.

"Yes." He said, taking Emily's hand and leading her back to the car.

"Send me that." Emily said over her shoulder as she climbed into the impala.

"You two be careful." Bobby said, walking back to his truck.

"Of course." She smiled back at him.

They said their goodbyes and started their trek to Colorado, their suitcases and skis already packed and loaded up in the back.

...

They got to the cabin late that night and unloaded the car. Emily started the fire place while Dean popped a bottle of champagne in the kitchen. She grabbed a blanket and sat down in front of the fire.

"Happy honeymoon Mrs. Winchester." Dean said, sitting next to her and handing her a glass.

She clinked her glass against his and took a sip before kissing him.

"This is weird." She said, slipping underneath his arm.

"Hmm?" He muttered, kissing her hairline.

"If someone had told us a year ago that we would give up hunting, settle down, and get married, what would our reaction have been?"

"I would have laughed in their face." He answered, taking a sip from his glass.

"Exactly. It's weird."

They sat in silence for a moment, the sound of the cracking fire filling the room.

"Are you happy?" He asked suddenly.

"Of course I am." She answered, looking up at him. "Are you happy?"

He looked down at her and smiled before kissing her softly.

"Yeah, I am."

They sat there for a few minutes, sharing gentle kisses, Emily tracing her fingers along Dean's arm and Dean running his fingers through her hair.

"Have you ever thought about having kids?" She asked nonchalantly.

Dean groaned and stood up, grabbing her hand and pulling her with him.

"We haven't even been married for twenty four hours and you're already pulling the baby card? Are you _trying_ to run me off?"

"It's just a question!" She laughed.

"That is _never_ just a question." He said, pulling her in and kissing her again.

"We can get a dog and have two point five kids and live in a little suburban house with a white picket fence." She teased, intertwining her fingers with his.

"Kids could maybe be fun in like, four years. _Maybe_. But I refuse to live in suburbia." He said.

"I could be a soccer mom." She gasped.

"Baseball mom." He countered.

"We would of course have to trade baby in for a nice minivan." She said, grabbing both glasses and walking them over to the sink.

"Now that is where I draw the line." He said, following her into the kitchen.

"Nah, I wouldn't do that to you." She smirked, turning towards him and leaning against the sink. "How could you survive without your baby?"

"Don't even suggest the idea." He said in a serious tone, putting the bottle of champagne back in the fridge.

"Cmon now." She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her body against his. "Honeymoon tradition awaits." She said, kissing the nape of his neck.

"Well if we're going traditional." He said before bending down and hooking his arm behind her legs, picking her up bridal style.

"You're such a dork." She laughed, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"To the bedroom Mrs. Winchester?" He asked her in a mocking seductive voice.

"You're never gonna stop calling me that are you?" She asked.

"Never." He replied, kissing her and carrying her into the bedroom.

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Oooooh but you know this won't last long right? Part two will be up soon! As always, thank you lovely people for reading, feedback is always welcome.


	8. The Year Off (Part 2)

Sam and Kacey come back and raise a little hell (literally and figuratively) and Dean and Emily are dragged back into the life.

Per usual, I don't own Supernatural or any of its characters

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Emily had just gotten home from work and was sitting on the couch watching TV when Dean walked through the door. Toulouse jumped up from Emily's lap and ran to the doorway to meet him.

"Hey babe, how was Seth?" She called from the couch.

"Fine..." He said, sounding distracted.

She turned to see him looking out the window before closing the blinds quickly. She got up from the couch and walked over to him.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

When she turned the corner, she saw him take a gun out of his waistband and set it on the counter.

"Dean?" She asked again, more sternly.

"I thought I heard something coming home from the bar." He said, opening up his computer on the counter.

"Did you?"

"I heard someone scream and went to check it out. All I found was blood and claw marks."

"Do you want me to check for missing people?" She asked, pulling her phone from her pocket.

"No, I can do it." He said, taking the phone from her.

Emily walked to the counter and pulled up the police scanner on Dean's computer. Dean walked down the hallway into the bedroom, his voice trailing as he closed the door.

"Yes hi, this is Special Agent Collins, I was looking into a case in your county..."

She was pulling up recent missing person's reports when there was a knock at the door. She opened it to see a UPS delivery guy holding a large box.

"Delivery for Emily Winchester?"

"That's me." She replied, taking the box from him.

"I need you to sign here, please." He said, handing her a clipboard.

She tried to grab it with her free hand and dropped it in the process.

"My bad." She said, setting the box down and picking the clipboard up off the floor.

"I'm sorry, I could've gotten that." The guy said, bending down and touching her arm lightly.

"It's fine." She smiled at him, signing the paper and handing him back the board. "Thanks."

She shut the door and set the box on the floor, too distracted to open it or even wonder what was in it, and walked back to the computer.

"Nothing reported." Dean said, coming back out into the kitchen.

"Do you want to go check out the scene again? Get another pair of eyes on it?"

"No, it was probably nothing. Just a hunch."

"Dean, when have you ever been wrong about a hunch?" She said, grabbing her jacket from the back of a chair. "Cmon."

Dean grabbed his keys and gun from the counter and followed her out the door.

….

They pulled up to the building and parked the impala in a back alley. Emily went around and opened the trunk, pulling up the board to reveal the hunting supplies they still kept inside. She grabbed a flash light, a shotgun, loaded it and shut the trunk, joining Dean at the door.

"Ready?"

She nodded and handed him the flashlight and followed behind him. The building had obviously been abandoned for a while; there were holes in the wall and plastic sheets hanging to cover the doorways.

"There." Dean said, pointing the flashlight to a smear of blood along the wall.

"Claws?" Emily asked, walking toward the spot on the wall. "So what, a werewolf?"

"Not quite, princess."

Dean and Emily turned at the sound, pointing their guns towards the door. A shadowed figure emerged from the doorway, stepping into the light of the flashlight.

"Lucifer." Dean breathed.

"Nice to see you again Dean." He replied, a smug grin spread across his face.

"We locked you up." Emily stammered, lowering her gun slightly.

"You tried." He scoffed. "And you were so adorable thinking you had gotten rid of me." He sighed, walking towards them. "But of course, humanity's faith has always been its greatest flaw."

"Where's my brother, you dick?" Dean spat, his features twisting with anger.

"Oh, little Sammy. He's still down there, and I wouldn't blame him for not coming back up. Michael and I aren't exactly the best roommates."

"You son of a_ bitch_." Dean growled, cocking his gun.

"Careful now Dean." Lucifer said, raising his hand and slamming Dean against the back wall, sending his gun flying out of his hand. "That's the big guy you're talking about."

He sauntered over to Emily, putting a finger under her chin.

"It's a shame. You made such a beautiful bride." He said before throwing her across the room into a wall, leaving a dent in the rotted sheet rock.

"Emily!" Dean shouted before Lucifer clenched his fist, cutting of Dean's air.

"You know, after a while you're voice becomes so... Grating." He said, watching Dean struggle to breath.

"You really thought you could try and lock me up and get away with it?" He sneered, moving his left hand over to pull Emily up next to Dean, choking her alongside him.

"When will you people ever learn?" He said as Dean's eyes rolled back in his head. "You will never-"

Emily saw a flash of yellow hair before Lucifer's words cut off and everything went black.

...

Emily woke up on a cold slab of concrete in a dark room with a raging headache. She could hear a muffled argument as her senses came back to her.

"You think we would have cared about that? I would've rather known you were alive!"

Emily stirred at the sound of Dean's voice.

"Guys." She heard Kacey say.

She felt Dean's gentle hands on her shoulders, pulling her up.

"Hey," he said, putting a hand on her face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." She said, putting a hand on her head. "What happen-"

Her voice cut off when she saw Kacey and Sam standing at the front of the room. Dean helped Emily stand up, her eyes locked on the pair before she turned to Dean.

"Are we dead? Did Lucifer kill us?" She asked.

She heard Sam laugh softly and turned to see him sit down in a chair next to him.

"You're not dead. You were injected with djinn poison. Lucifer wasn't real."

She was surprised by how casually he said it.

"Are you real?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah. Already proved it to Dean." He said, nodding to a bottle of holy water on the floor.

She looked him up and down a moment before walking up to him and throwing her arms around him. He patted her on the back gently before letting her go.

"How did you get out?" She asked before turning to Kacey. "And where the _hell_ have you been? You haven't answered my calls in months."

"It's... complicated." Kacey stammered.

"Complicated." Emily replied incredulously.

"We don't know how I got out. I just remember falling into the pit and then I woke up in the middle of the field."

"And you have no idea who did it?" She asked.

"No. I mean I looked, for a long time, but I never found anything."

"Wait." She said, taking a step back. "Long time? How long have you been back?"

Kacey and Sam shared a look, pausing a moment. Dean had been quiet for the entirety of the conversation and finally spoke up, causing Emily to look over at him.

"Go ahead. Tell her." He said bitterly.

She turned back to Sam, raising her eyebrows.

"A year." He answered.

"A year? What, you couldn't pick up a fucking phone?" She said, practically spitting the last words at him.

"You guys were out Emily. You had jobs, an apartment, you were happy." Kacey replied, trying to calm her down.

"You're not mad about this? How long have you known?" She asked, turning to Kacey.

She paused a moment, taking a breath before answering the question.

"About eight months."

"Oh my god." Emily said under her breath, turning away from them and pinching the bridge of her nose.

Dean sat back down on the bed, putting his elbows on his knees and clenching his fists.

"So you told her because she was still hunting." She asked, gesturing to Kacey.

"If you could even call it that. I tried to leave her alone, I kinda hoped she would give it up and go back to you guys, but she didn't. She was alone and being careless, she was gonna get herself killed." Sam explained

"Look, that's not the point, Emily. You were _out_. You were getting to live a normal life, I wasn't about to take that away from you." Kacey said sternly, trying not to make her more angry than she already was.

"I can't believe you. After everything we've been through you don't think I would want to know?"

"You two were happy, you finally had what you wanted." Sam explained.

"I wanted my brother alive!" Dean yelled, looking up at Sam.

"You wanted a family. You have for a long time, maybe the whole time. I know you. You only gave it up because of the way we lived. But you two had something, and you were building something. Had I shown up, Dean, you would have just run off. I'm sorry. But it felt like after everything, you deserve some regular life."

The room fell silent as they locked their gaze, Dean practically shaking with anger.

"So what, you two have just been hunting by yourselves?" Emily said, finally breaking the silence.

"Not exactly." Sam answered.

"Really? You, hunting with strangers?" Dean asked suspiciously.

"More like family." He replied. "They're in Colorado right now on a hunt. We came to you guys alone."

"Why did you come anyway?" Emily said, still bitter in her tone.

"A djinn was coming after us and got a hold of Sam-, look it's a long story, I can tell you on the way to Bobby's, we need his help." Kacey said, fishing a pair of keys from her pocket.

Dean and Emily shared a look as they both realized the same thing, Bobby must have known about Sam too.

They all piled into the mustang and Kacey explained why they had come back. She and Sam were attacked by a djinn, it had said something about revenge on the Winchesters before it got away. They got worried and came to check on them, finding both of them just before the djinn poison could kill them.

As the car filled with silence, Emily pulled her phone out of her back pocket, dialing Sarah's number and pulling it up to her ear.

"Hey Sarah, it's me. Listen, Dean and I had to leave town for a... family emergency. I'm not sure when we will get back, do you think you could pop in and take care of Toulouse until then?"

Sam looked back at her in the rear view mirror.

"Yeah food's in the same place... We're fine I promise, I actually don't know much now, we just got on the road. I'll let you know when I find out... Okay... Thank you, I'll call you later." She said, putting the phone back in her pocket.

"You have a dog?" Kacey asked.

"A cat." Dean and Emily answered in unison.

The car fell into silence again as Kacey pressed her foot on the gas, eager to get to Bobby's.

...

Bobby opened the door to see Emily and Dean standing in front of him.

"Damn it." He muttered, shanking his head.

"Nice to see you too Bobby." Dean spat, pushing through the door, Emily, Kacey and Sam following behind him.

"Kacey. Sam." He said, closing the door behind him.

"So you did know." Dean said, in a monotone voice.

"Yeah." Bobby replied, sitting down at his desk and pouring himself a drink.

"How long?" Emily questioned softly.

Bobby paused a moment, fiddling with his glass before answering.

"All year."

Dean shook his head and sat down on a couch next to Emily.

"You gotta be kidding me."

"And I'd do it again." Bobby said.

"Why?!" Dean yelled.

Emily was looking down at the foor, silently fuming.

"Because you got out, Dean! You walked away from the life, both of you. And I was so damn grateful, you got no idea."

"Do you have any clue what walking away meant for me? For her?" Dean asked, gesturing to Emily.

"Yeah, it meant having a life and not getting your guts ripped out at age thirty. That's what it meant."

"We only left because you asked us to." Dean said, jabbing his finger at Sam.

"Good." Bobby said.

"Good for who? I was half out of my head with grief. God knows why she put up with me. I drank too much, we both had nightmares." He turned to Sam. "I looked everywhere. I collected hundreds of books, trying to find anything to bust you out."

"You promised you'd leave it alone." Sam finally said.

"Of course I didn't leave it alone! Sue me! A damn _year_!? You couldn't put me out of my misery?"

"Look," Bobby said, standing up. "I get it wasn't easy. But that's life! And it's as close to happiness as I've ever seen a hunter get. It ain't like I wanted to lie to you, son. But you guys were out, Dean."

"Do we look out to you?" Dean replied, looking up at him.

Dean and Bobby stared each other down, Deans gaze shooting anger, while Bobby's reflected sadness back at him.

"Kace can I talk to you outside?" Emily asked softly, standing up.

Kacey nodded silently and followed her out the back door to the car yard behind Bobby's house. Emily walked out into the dirt and turned to face her. Kacey walked up to her, her hands slightly raised.

"Emily, look I-"

She was cut off by Emily walking up and wrapping her in a tight hug. She was confused at first, but returned the hug, smoothing down Emily's hair.

They stood like that for a minute, embracing each other for the first time in a year, tears falling down Emily's cheeks. Emily let go, taking a step back and looking at Kacey before giving her a hard slap across the face, making her eyes sting with tears. Emily stepped back as Kacey raised her fist, recognizing the fire she gets in her eyes when someone hits her, but she stopped before she threw the punch.

"Okay. I deserved that." She admitted, lowering her fist and sitting down on the hood of a car, letting Emily pace in front of her for a minute. Finally she turned to her, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Can you just, attempt to explain all of this to me?" Emily asked.

"How many times do I have to tell you? You were living the life we both dreamed of but never thought we could actually get and I wasn't gonna take it away by coming back. I won't apologize for it either."

"Look." She replied, trying to keep her voice calm. "I left this life because I was tired of losing people. My mom, my dad, Travis, Ash, Ellen, Jo, then Sam. And then you just up and _left._"

Kacey looked down at her hands, the guilt weighing down on her shoulders.

"I was gonna go after you but I couldn't keep doing it anymore, Kace. Dean and I just agreed to listen to Sam and stop. As much as we could anyway." She said, walking over and sitting down next to Kacey.

There was a moment of silence between them, both girls trying to figure out what to say to one another.

"I wanted to tell you." Kacey said gently. "Even when Sam told me not to, I went and found your apartment." Kacey said gently.

"What stopped you?"

"I went to that little Italian restaurant to grab a bite to eat and pulled up and saw you guys through the window." She smiled to herself. "Em, I don't think I have ever seen you that happy. Genuinely happy."

"Yeah well I put on a good face." She muttered.

"No, I've known you long enough to know your faking it face. I saw you two in there," she smiled slightly, shaking her head. "I couldn't make myself go in and ruin that. I know that's what you've always wanted but never could have it cause of the way we live. You finally had that."

"But I didn't. I mean hell, we still had guns in the night stand, holy water under the bed, a Devils trap on the floor under the front rug. We were never out, I don't think we ever could be."

"The last thing I want to do is drag you back in." Kacey said.

"If I didn't want to be here I wouldn't be. I'd rather be with you and Sam then go live some cookie cutter life alone." Emily said.

"Normal life made you sappy." Kacey teased, pushing her gently with her elbow.

"Shutup." She laughed, elbowing her back.

Kacey smiled at her before wrapping her in another hug.

"I missed you Em. More than you know."

"I missed you too Kace." She replied, rubbing her back before pulling away. "Don't think I'm still not pissed about this." She added sternly.

"You say that like I don't know you're the queen of holding grudges." She replied dryly.

"You guys okay out here? No ripped throats?" Dean said from the door.

They both turned to see him walking towards them, three beers in hand. He reached the car and handed two to the girls.

"Dean, I-" Kacey started, taking the beer from him.

He held up in hands and interrupted her.

"Look, it is what it is, can't change it now. We've got work to do so let's just... Call a truce for now, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded, looking up at him, an obviously guilty look spread across her features.

He looked down at her for a minute before opening his arms slightly and jerking his chin up at her.

"Cmere." He said, his face straight.

She stood up and he wrapped her in a hug, lightly kissing the top of her head.

"I missed you kiddo."

"Yeah, I missed not having anyone to make fun of." She laughed, letting go and sitting back on the hood.

"Oh Cmon, you had Sam. Easy target." Dean replied.

"Speaking of Sam," Kacey hesitated a moment before continuing. "I need to talk to you guys."

"That doesn't sound good." Emily sighed, turning to face her.

"He' just... different." She explained.

"Well he spent a nice vacation down with Michael and Lucifer, I wouldn't expect him to be the same after that." Dean said.

"Yeah, but he says he doesn't remember it. I've asked him about it and he thinks I'm just over reacting. Says he feels fine."

"He _says_? You don't believe him?" Emily asked.

"I don't know what I believe. I just know he's not the same as he was before he went down there. You'll see what I mean. I've tried to figure it out, I even tried praying to Cas, I haven't gotten anywhere."

"What exactly is wrong with him?" Dean asked.

"I don't know how to describe it... He's just...colder."

"Colder? What do you mean-" Emily was cut off by Sam's voice.

"Bobby's got dinner ready. And there's some people I want you guys meet." He called poking his head out of the door.

"Cmon." Dean said, turning and walking back towards the house.

Emily and Kacey hopped down from the hood and walked together towards the house.

"We'll figure it out Kace." Emily said, laying a hand on her shoulder.

...

"I know... I know, I'm really sorry Carmen, it was so last minute we just packed up and left... I don't know when we'll be back just yet but I'll let you know..."

Dean pulled up the sheets on the bed and crawled under them, watching Emily pace in front of the room.

"Okay... I'll keep you posted, thanks again."

Emily hung up the phone and set it on the nightstand before flipping the light switch off and climbing into bed next to Dean. He lifted his arm and she moved under it, laying her head on his chest.

"So is Carmen pissed?" He asked, running his fingers through her hair.

"Of course. Since we're short on staff she told me she can keep my position open for a week before she'll have to fill it." She explained.

"We don't have to go with them you know. We can go back." He said.

"Dean. Your brother and your grandfather are literally back from the dead, you really want to leave now?"

"If that's what you want." He said unconvincingly.

"Well it's not."

He turned his head to look down at her.

"Are you sure?"

"I am. As great as it was to have a year off, we both know it never felt right. And now that Kacey and Sam are back..." She trailed off, tracing her fingers over his chest. "I don't want to leave them again. I can't imagine you do either."

"I don't." He replied.

They sat in silence for a moment, letting the conversation sink in. They never really thought they could stay out of it forever, the thought of returning to the life always sat in the back of their minds, she wasn't even sure if this wasn't what she had waned all along. Not getting out of hunting entirely, but just taking a break for once.

"So what now?" Dean said, finally breaking the silence.

She took a deep breath, shaking her head slightly.

"We go to the apartment tomorrow and pack up. Donate the stuff we can't carry with us. I'm sure Sarah will take Toulouse."

"What are we gonna tell them?" He asked.

"I don't know... We could tell them it was something with my dad?"

"Like she would believe you would go help your dad with anything. We could always tell them about Sam. Something about how we thought he was dead but he showed up as a John Doe at a hospital, we have to move up there to take care of him." He said.

"That could work. I just hate lying to them." She said quietly.

"I know." He said, kissing the top of her head. "But we have to."

"I know." She muttered into his chest.

"Get some sleep, we have to gut an apartment tomorrow."

She groaned as she closed her eyes and snuggled up to his side, pulling the blankets up to her chin.

...

"These?" Kacey asked, holding up a small stack of books.

"Toss em." Emily answered, folding the last of her clothes into her bag.

They had pretty much emptied the apartment, taking out the furniture they had bought; leaving the pieces that had come with the room. They had to donate about seventy five percent of their stuff, living out of a car forces you to do that. All they really kept were some clothes, their marriage certificate (folded up and slipped into Emily's guitar case), and a couple of small things they had collected over the year. She was surprised Kacey hadn't noticed the ring on her finger yet, but her and Dean both decided not to mention it until it was brought up.

Emily looked over and saw Kacey holding Toulouse in her lap, scratching under his chin.

"Can't we just keep him with us? He's the sweetest."

"I know." She said, walking over and scratching his head. "He's a good boy. But I can't imagine a blind cat would do well on the road." She added, laughing.

Sam and Dean walked back into the apartment, out of breath.

"Those are the last of the boxes." Sam said, sitting down on the kitchen table.

"You guys better head out, Seth and Sarah should be here by now, and you" Dean pointed to Sam. "Are supposed to be in a coma."

Dean walked into the kitchen, grabbing a water bottle from the counter when they heard a knock at the open door.

"Mrs. Winchester?"

Emily recognized the voice of their landlord as she walked out of the hallway.

"There you are. Just need you to sign this for me, then you guys are good to go." She said, handing Emily a clipboard and a pen.

"Mrs. _Winchester_?" Kacey asked questioningly, standing up and looking at Dean before shifting her gaze to Emily, looking down at her left hand, seeing the ring.

Emily signed the sheet and handed the clipboard back to her with a smile.

"A lot happens when you don't talk to a person for eight months." She said dryly.

"Thank you." The landlord said, feeling the tension in the room and making a quick exit.

"Congratulations." Sam said, saying it almost like a question.

"You got married and didn't tell me?" Kacey asked bitterly.

"Well your boyfriend came back from the dead and you didn't tell me so I figure it's a fair trade." She spat, punctuating the statement by zipping up her bag.

Kacey looked down at the floor, feeling the guilt weighing down on her shoulders again.

"Dean's right, you guys need to go. We'll meet you at Bobby's." She continued.

"Em." Kacey said in a soft tone, trying muster an apology.

"Just go." She replied coldly.

Kacey turned and grabbed her keys from the counter before walking out the door. Sam turned and awkwardly nodded to Dean before following her out.

"Give her a break Em." Dean said gently, his back to her.

Emily didn't say anything, just took a deep breath and went back into the bedroom, grabbing the bag she had put Toulouse's stuff in. A couple toys, an extra collar, and the blanket he liked to sleep on. She walked out into the living room and watched Toulouse walk around furniture that was no longer there. He sat back on his hind legs and went to jump on the couch, but just fell through the air onto the floor. They both gave him a pitiful laugh and Emily scooped him up, nuzzling her nose against his head.

"It's okay, you're gonna live with Seth and Sarah now. You'll like it there." She cooed.

"You'll just have to learn a new floor plan." Dean added, walking over and scratching under his chin.

"Speaking of which, they should have been here like half an hour ago. It's not like them to be late." Emily said, shifting Toulouse into Dean's arms and grabbing her cell phone from the counter.

She dialed both Seth and Sarah's numbers, twice, with no answer. She tried their house phone with the same result.

"This isn't like them." She mumbled, dialing the number to Sarah's cell again.

"I just called the garage, Seth didn't show up to work this morning." Dean said, coming out of the bedroom door.

They looked at one another and Emily instantly read the look on his face. She grabbed her jacket from the counter behind her and fished the keys out of her pocket, tossing them to him. They grabbed their bags, put Toulouse in his crate and headed out of the apartment, not even pausing to say goodbye.

Dean drove to Seth and Sarah's house, blowing through yellow lights and stop signs along the way. When they pulled in front of the house, all of the lights were off and the front door was wide open. Emily's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach as she and Dean pulled their guns out of the dashboard.

"No, no, no." Dean muttered as they both climbed out of the impala, running to the door.

Dean put his back against the door, pointing the gun inside, giving Emily a quick glance before entering. They stepped inside the door, guns pointed ahead of them. A rank smell filled the hallway, and she felt her stomach turn. Dean felt along the wall until he found the light switch and flicked it on, light pooling around them. Emily felt the air leave her lungs as her eyes adjusted to the scene in front of her. Dean didn't even walk in, but stared ahead.

"Fuck." She heard Dean spit under his breath.

He turned around and walked back into the hallway.

Seth and Sarah were lying next to each other on the living room floor, their mouths open in a silent scream. Their faces were the only things that had been spared, white like porcelain and perfectly clean. Everything else was torn, their ribs cracked open and their skin parted to the sides. The organs that remained were torn apart. Their bones were broken, their limbs bent in different directions. She backed up, her hand touching the wall. A shiver ran down her spine as her fingers dabbed into the dripping blood. She removed her hand carefully, careful not to look down at it. She teared up a bit, backing up to the doorway. She looked down at her feet, sinking into the blood soaked carpet and let a breath out. Slowly, and one at a time, she removed her shoes, stepping back onto the clean carpet when she had removed them. No footprints. In her blood stained hand she held her shoes, the other she held her gun. She walked out of the hallway where Dean was wiping down the walls and the light switch for their fingerprints. He turned the light off and they left the door open, returning to their car.

They opened the door and sat down in silence, staring straight ahead of them. Tears were falling down Emily's cheeks, her jaw clenched. Dean pulled out his cell phone to call and report it when they saw an old white pickup truck pull up behind them. Amy climbed out of the passenger seat and walked around to Dean's window. He rolled it down and she leaned in, setting her elbows on the door.

"Just when I thought you guys were out." She sighed, her face straight. "I assume you knew them then?"

Emily nodded silently.

"Well don't worry, I got the bastard and just called it in a couple minutes ago. Fucking shifter." She said. "I came two days ago when all this started but you guys weren't home."

"Two days ago?" Dean asked, turning his head to her.

"Yeah. Two other couples were killed around here, I came down to take care of it, where were you guys?"

"It's an incredibly long story." Emily muttered, her voice breaking.

"Sam's back." Dean said.

"Wait, _what_? Is he with Kacey? I saw her a couple of times this year but she was always alone."

"Like she said, long story." Dean answered. "You want to follow us back to Bobby's? We can explain there."

"I told the guys at the bar I would be back tonight, but they can manage. I'll call them." She said.

She paused and looked at Emily before continuing.

"It's good to see you guys again. Sorry it had to be under such shitty circumstances."

Emily looked at her and gave her the best smile she could muster up.

"You too Amy."

She stood up and got back into her truck and they drove off together.

Dean looked over at Emily, staring out the window blankly with soft tears falling down her cheeks. He reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. She didn't shift her gaze but squeezed his hand back.

...

They spent the night at Bobby's catching up. They filled Amy in on everything that had happened during their year, and she filled them in on hers. After Sam went into the cage she had basically become the new Ellen. She opened the bar back up, housed hunters and gave out cases. She told them Cas popped in whenever he could, but he spent most of his time in heaven dealing with the aftermath of the apocalypse.

"Apparently the shit has hit the fan up there." Amy said.

"Explains why he hasn't answered our prayers." Kacey said.

Emily had been quiet for most of the conversation, letting Dean do most of the talking. It was around midnight when they decided to turn in for the night.

"You heading out now?" Sam asked Amy as they stood up from the couches.

"Yeah, I've got a new bar kitty to get home." She said, looking down through Toulouse's crate. "If you guys need help with that djinn thing, give me a call."

They all hugged and said their goodbyes, Amy letting her hug with Emily last a bit longer than the rest of them.

"You call me if you need me, you hear? For anything." She told her sternly, pulling back and holding her shoulders.

"I will, I promise." Emily replied.

Dean bent down to the level of the cage and put his fingers through the bars, letting Toulouse rub his face against them. "Don't get into too much trouble buddy, and don't piss off any drunk old men."

Emily knelt down, sticking her fingers into the cage and scratching under his chin.

"Bye sweet boy. Be good for Amy." She stood back up, looking at Amy. "If Cas stops in tell him we need to talk."

"Will do." She replied, opening the front door and going out to her car.

Dean shut the door behind her turned to face the group.

"Let's plan to leave at eight? It's a long drive." He said.

They nodded and walked out of the room, down the hallway to the bedrooms. Kacey lagged behind pulling Emily aside.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Emily shook her head and leaned back against the wall.

"How is it that every person that walks into our lives ends up getting killed?"

"Emily, Seth and Sarah's deaths had nothing to do with you. That would've happened whether you knew them or not, you know that."

"Yeah well it doesn't feel that way." She said, looking down at her feet.

"I know." Kacey mumbled.

After a moment Kacey gently kicked Emily's foot.

"Get some sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day."

"First day back." She sighed, leaning up and walking down the hallway. "Like fucking high school."

Kacey laughed and walked one more door down.

"See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight." Emily said as she opened up the door to the spare bedroom.

She could hear the sink running in the bathroom as she stripped down and pulled one of Dean's T-shirts over her head. She turned the lamp off and climbed under the sheets, facing away from the bathroom door. A few minutes later, a crack of light flooded onto the bed and she felt the mattress sink as Dean laid down beside her. He rolled to the side and wrapped an arm around her waist, kissing the back of her neck.

"You okay?" He asked her softly.

"Mhmm." She replied, unconvincingly.

"Sure you are." He said, pulling her in closer to his chest.

She intertwined her fingers with his, brushing them softly against her lips.

"It's just not fair." She mumbled.

He took a breath kissed her hair.

"It never is." He replied softly.

She paused a moment, taking a breath and collecting herself, she hated crying in front of him.

"We can't let that happen again." She said.

"Then lets get back to saving people."

She rolled over, touching her forehead to his and kissing him softly.

"Works for me." She said, burying her face in his neck.

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Thanks for reading! As always, reviews are welcomed.


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